Pre-match: USMNT v T&T Gold Cup Game 1 Sunday June 15th

I agree, I would go back to the Turkey lineup with a different 9, Tolkin, Adams and whatever center backs Poch wants.

Will say two things that seem to be at odds with the posts above.

I want to see Turner play every minute of this gold cup. Turner is the only goalie in our pool right now that has shown the ability to be a game changer, or at least a net positive, over longer than a month at a time. I think giving him as many minutes as possible in the leadup to the most important club season of his career is probably a better use of these minutes than a replacement that is meh now (but might be better), and will be meh a year from now. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Afterall, it has given him momentum before (2021).

McGlynn is maybe the most unique player in this pool, and his strength is against bunkering teams, which we should see until Canada or Mexico. He'll get the ball higher up the field and with less pressure than the Turkey game. To me that is worth a lot more than Brenden potentially causing a turnover in an attacking position. Him and Luna were the only two that actually created or were adventurous in the Turkey game before the Turks took their foot off the gas. Tillman had two real chances to put Luna through in the first half but went backwards instead, McGlynn would give us a shot there.

 

T&T could be a sneaky must-win. Wouldn't want to go into the Haiti match with the pressure of win or go home.

 

But we are already "home" so we have no place to go.

 

lol, this is great news!

 

We certainly did not see McGlynn put anyone through in his 65 minutes v Turkiye?

McGlynn has 2G and 3A in 16 matches for Houston. His 2 Gs have been similar bangers to the one v Turkiye and his 3 As have all been from set pieces. The one thing a knowledgeable fan will se from highlights is he provides almost zero defensive presense.

Portland: 1:35


RSL:1:27


Seattle: 2:06

 

I don’t know what MD-2 means but Adams was apparently not training with the full team

MD-2 and Tyler Adams is training on his own. Damion Downs is not feeling well and not present #USMNT

— Sanjay Sujanthakumar (@tha_Real_Kumar) June 13, 2025

Which makes me think unlikely he plays Sunday. If he were to be placed it’d have to be today before 10:15 EST (24 hours before the start of the tournament).

 

Mcglynn is a better passer than you're giving him credit for. You're right that he is a traffic cone defensively, but the other wingers in this camp offer next to nothing going forward. At some point we have to accept that if Weah isn't at camp, we don't have a perfectly well rounded guy to put out there. The same people saying that we need someone that provides more defensive coverage than Mcglynn will bitch and moan about Aaronson/Sullivan not offering enough going forward.

 

I'll guess MD-2 is clever shorthand for Matchday minus two aka two days until the match.

I assume we have a 100% consensus that we should rest Adams (at least) until Sunday.

 

Speaking of wingers, would have liked to see Sabbi on this roster.

 

https://www.primicias.ec/deportes/ecuador-amistosos-fecha-fifa-octubre-mexico-estados-unidos-98451/

USMNT Ecuador October Friendly scheduled

 

Is Sabbi a top ten player on the Whitecaps roster? We have two of the best guys from the Whitecaps already, White and Berhalter, were you so impressed by them that you want to see their teammate who isn't nearly as good?

 

Not according to Big Soccer database

 

Speaking of consensus, do we have a general preference regarding where to discuss non-USA Gold Cup matches? Mexico starts things off on Saturday (tomorrow) night vs the Dominican Republic. Some alternatives:

The existing general Gold Cup thread, with an [All Rs] tag added;

The existing Worldwide Opponents Watch (too broad);

or a new/distinct CONCACAF Gold Cup 2025 Opponents Watch thread?

Think of this as a dry run for next summer's World Cup.

My advice to anyone new: don't expect to come to a soccer board and remain ignorant of other scores, including here especially the US score, which always may arise (at least by implication). On the other hand, no deliberate spoilers, please.

@dark knight Your preferences.

 

I don't particularly want to have to play three CBs because the "suits" this roster portion falls short for me when progressing the ball up the field with our CB group. I am not particularly impressed with forward progression by any of those three BUT I don't have a ton of faith in our FBs as defensively sound in a 4 back set up. So, I think this could work esp if no Adams at the 6. With adams at the 6 then we can go 4 atb.

 

I REALLY hope i am seeing or reading something wrong but the way we have been playing has me very concerned. We seem to be very disjointed and are very poor at making choices. Also our current level of play is more than a bit concerning, that is if we were a prizefighter we would be one that "can't punch their way out of a paper bag" and also one that "has a glass jaw."

If T&T's coach has them disciplined and focused they could drive the USA even deeper into the funk they have dropped into then they could be more than competitive in this match. A CONCACAF team with OK, not good or even great, players could give us all we can handle or more.
T&T is just the kind of team that can provide the final death touch to a team on the brink, as we are. Pretty much like some breeds of carrion eaters that will find a dyeing animal and start feeding and thereby kill the animal.

If we do prevail then we could go on a good run but, should we lose or even draw, that could be so depressing that the players will be unable to recover.

Like I said I hope I am misreading the team but it is not looking at all good.

 

Not great to see Downs being out at the moment. Not enthused to see either Pat or White start up top……

Edit: Purely speculatory, but you think Downs is trying to avoid the cap tie and leave camp?

 

I mean he’s on the roster for the tournament and can’t be replaced except for injury. If he’s the sort of guy who is going to cut bait like that at this point in time I don’t think he’s someone we want anyways. But I also don’t think that’s what is happening.

 

But we already knew that Poch would start both White and Agyemang over Downs if he had all three as options...

 

This is exactly the kind of line up I would like to see. We should be playing w/ 3CBs. I would be OK with Zimm playing center CB too. I think he passes out of the back better from that slot but Robinson has the wheels to catch up to players that get beyond the backline so I am good w/ him there from a D perspective.

Thanks for posting the ELO rankings too. They seem so much better than the FIFA rankings. 16th in the World? Yeah right. What a joke.... Even when we were playing well in NL and the WC I still don't think we were the 16th best team. Maybe 20-25th around 2022? But 16 right now? Yikes. We are awful. I wish I shared some of the optimism that I have read about our group stage opponents but I am legit worried that we are going to get embarrassed on home soil... again. Even getting out of the group could give this team trouble... but if we get thru I hold out very little hope that we can beat Mexico, Canada or Panama. We seem to perform best against Mexico but I think all that confidence is gone now. It all just went so wrong and I have a hard time understanding why they have under-performed for so long. It's bordering on brutal now.

 

Match day minus 2 or 2 days before match. Confusing though.

 

I don't think it's really a preference so much as he's seen Downs a couple of days and he's seen Agyemang and White for multiple camps and both have, if memory serves on White, scored in some of those matches. I think more time with Downs could mean more minutes with Downs, I sure as hell hope so, because I don't buy any of the White stuff, at all, and Agyemang is basically athletiing it from what I can tell.

 

It’s always very important to win the first match of a tournament.

Of course, this is also the first match for a decent opponent in Trinidad and Tobago.

it’s going to be interesting to see who Poch considers his A-Team from this group. And, his preferred formation, ordinarily a 4-2-3-1.

So, looking forward to the action, we need a result and quality will be a bonus.

Go, USA

 

I think the general first team writes itself.

My big thing I don’t see many talking about is Freeman obviously needs to start over the traffic cone on the roster and Tolkin should start and Arfsten should just be a wing option from here on out.

Anyway, none of that is actually my point, Freeman needs to be freed… man! HE should be the FB that gets forward and the LB should be the one in handcuffs.