Berhalter said Olympic roster concerns were a big part of this #USMNT roster. He felt players like Aidan Morris, Bryan Reynolds, and Kevin Paredes would all get more minutes with the Olympic team.— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) May 20, 2024
Cellantano is making a push for that starting job. His fbef stats are great. Although, Miazga does a lot of his distribution for him. A lot of this will depend on whether Gaga is loaned out early and whether his loaned out club will release him. Strasbourg is interested. Another consideration is Diego Kochen who spain is trying to get him to commit. If we give him a spot, then we may lock down his commitment. (Off topic, along with Cellantano and Matt Frese, Steve Clark and Brad Stuver are all having great years, while Steffen is statistically the worst in the league. Clark and Stuver have been good for the past few years.)
Some Olympics film. Zimmerman is the locked in overage player Finding our rhythm in the Heart of America 🥁#OlyMNT pic.twitter.com/o6gXhGXSIP— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) June 7, 2024 Also, news about the Copa, Sargent is a doubt. Norwich ran his ankle into the ground. And for the Copa, aside from the final, knockout games go straight to pens if tied.
I watched from the first goal to just after the USA goal. Was really good but heard the planned subs really did it in
The 68 yard wide pitch didn’t do them any favors. These narrow fields are hurting more than they are helping. That said, Colombia figured it out. Not a good look for team rainbow.
Defensively we were bad and Colombia capitalized on our mistakes and showed they are clearly better which we all should have already knew. We can’t beat any good team if we make silly mistakes and give a good opponent that many scoring opportunities.
I was at a graduation party; otherwise I would have watched it. Glad I didn’t. I checked the score at one point and we were down 2-1. “It’s Colombia, a good squad, and it’s a friendly, no big deal” I thought. Then I see the final score is 5-1. Holy cow. What a rout. And with Brazil to follow on Wednesday.
I don't understand it. I've been hearing for years that the national team will never succeed when they have so many MLS players on it, and we need to have all our top guys going to the big European leagues. Well, today, for the first time ever, the starting XI was ALL guys from the five top leagues in the world, and we got shithammered. Crickets from the MLS-bashers. As for Berhalter... I defended him as much as anyone, and I reflexively said when he got re-hired that he had done enough to earn the job again, but I also thought that maybe he had peaked. To be fair, he did go out and win another Nations League, beating Mexico AGAIN. I also think that when you have this much top-notch talent on the field at one time, and they lose 5-1, even to a quality side like Colombia, it's gotta be mostly on them. That said, 5-1 is 5-1. And when you get drilled that badly, it's a poor reflection on the coach. Either they're not playing for him, they're not motivated, they're starting to tune him out, the tactics are ill-advised -- I don't know exactly, but it can't ALL be on the players. Maybe we'll find out that they went out for sushi and they all got food poisoning or something. But aside from that, this match against Brazil and the upcoming Copa America just took on a whole new complexion. The first match of Copa is literally two weeks away, so Berhalter's coaching it. Can't be helped. But if we get our clock cleaned... ooh. Break out the moving boxes and the packing tape.
I just wanted to see this part again. MLS is a lot better than people realize, especially people who stopped following their local team within the past few years because "EPL is so much better." I can only assume Chelsea, Man City and Man United are amongst the favorites. Again.
Possibly so, but otoh with the ridiculous expansion to 48 teams there are a whole bunch of countries- the US among them - who aren't really in much jeopardy anyway. But then Infantino wants to go to 64, at which point it won't be even a small challenge.
Using events from last night to "bash the 'MLS bashers'" feels like a weird hill to die on. 1) Walker Zimmerman or Aiden Morris or whoever else is in MLS ... what further heights are these players supposed to get the USMNT to over the Euro based players? 2) Did you watch last night's MLS games? I watched a lot of the 4, during intermissions of the Stanley Cup finals and on delay afterwards. All of them ... utter crap by international soccer league standards. Take away the foreign players leading the MLS best teams ... Messi/Cucho/Arango/Acosta, etc. ... and last night is what you get. NYRB looked lost last night without Forsberg. MLS is better than 10 years ago ... but I still don't expect high-quality soccer from it overall. It is the top vehicle domestically for the Crew to compete in. And that's fine for me.
Well, of the eight teams that played last night, six of them are in the bottom half of the table. It's not like the league's elite teams were in action. Plus, Minnesota was missing (I think) 8 guys to international duty. Regardless -- that doesn't refute anything I said. And please note that this rant isn't directed at you specifically, so much as it is the larger fan base... I'm not trying to use one crappy result as proof positive that MLS is now an elite worldwide league. I'm just taking some of the one-trick ponies who live only to BASH MLS out for a bit of a ride. For decades now, every USMNT fan has been encouraging every single American born player with the slightest glimmer of being a national teamer to go overseas. Like it's their first and greatest obligation to think about the country rather than their own careers, OR MLS as a whole. I've been the one pushing back on it, saying I want those players to stick around because it raises the level of the league as a whole, which eventually raises the overall level of the typical American player. (Not to mention making the league stronger, more entertaining and more competitive. I watch MLS ten months out of the year. The national team plays crucial tournaments, what, once every two years?) So the "go to Europe" types have gotten their wish. Mission Accomplished. What's it getting us? Every time we play an important match with a couple MLS guys in the lineup, the trolls come out to play and insist that everything that goes wrong is because of the one or two (or three) MLS players on the field. We know what the magic formula is, and it's a shame that our crappy domestic league keeps screwing it up. Well, apparently, it's not that simple, sparky. Yesterday's lineup gave every Europhile their wet dream -- a roster full of elite-league players. And they got taken to the cleaners. They didn't just lose, they capitulated. At least the MLS guys have chips on their shoulders. These guys were out to lunch.
I rated CCV above Zimmerman based on his physique and champions league play. Boy I was wrong. Yesterday did give me relief that the federation wouldn't hire Nancy. If the team fires Gregg, they have to go to an old school USA counter game, while not playing energy drink soccer, something akin to Curtin.
Apparently there was no postgame press conference due to technical difficulties. Here's a comment from another thread: That hits a little close to home.