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

i dont get this notion ive seen a couple or three times that mcglynn will be good against a bunker. his goals come when teams are playing us straight up and not giving him any respect at all...and even then he hits his shots off defenders knees 90% of the time. fks, sure- not that we win a ton in dangerous positions- but 8 guys in the box is less gaps, not more.

 

So that Switzerland beat down gave Downs Captieitis, huh? Not a shock.

 

I just want to win a game. Easy.

 

This has beat-down written all over it.
We're going to take some anger out on this opponent.

Our cumulative score over our last five matches against T&T is 24-1.

The games played on US soil in there are 6-0, 7-0, 6-0 and 3-0.

That includes 6-0 in the 2023 Gold Cup with a "B" team. We had a first half hat-trick by Jesus Ferreira in that game.

Trivia question: When was the last time T&T even scored a goal against the USMNT on American soil?

Yes, we lost our last match against T&T. That was on the road down a man for most of the game as Dest inexplicably got himself sent off in the first half. I still don't know what kind of red mist came over Dest in that moment. Even then, T&T needed some bad goalkeeping play by Turner to eek out a 2-1 win.

Anything other than an absolute curb-stomping will be a disappointment to me. I expect AT LEAST 3-0.

T&T recently failed to beat French Guiana AT HOME in the Nations League.
They've dropped below Haiti and Curacao in the FIFA rankings to 11th in CONCACAF.

Maybe I'm naive, but I'd bet my mortgage on the USMNT in this game.

 

I have been watching McGlynn play for years with the Union, so I'm well aware of his limitations. But he has a truly world class skill, how many guys in our pool can you say that about?

For the Union, he usually played on the right side of a midfield diamond with two Adams type players (Martinez and Flach) doing the defensive work for him and three in front of him making runs (Carranza, Gazdag and usually Uhre or Sullivan). He was the quarterback and made a couple incredible passes a game, not just set pieces and a lot of the set pieces were taken by Wagner anyway. And if you want to see a good example of him breaking down a low block watch the highlights of the Union CCL game against a 10 man Atlas at home. He was great on that road leg too. Think it was 2023, forget though.

But, that was the point, he didn't put anyone through, (he did hit one good ball over the top to Agyemang) because he wasn't getting the ball in positions to and Luna was on the other side. He will against T&T.

 

i am as moved by this as every time youve make an impassioned speech that we wont lose to panama again since the copa...

 

Trinidad has a decent front 3. There's Garcia who won a Greek Title a couple years ago and transferred to Spartak Moscow midseason. It didn't go great through as he failed to register a single goal contribution until their final game of the season. Sealy is a former U17 and U20 for us and though Montreal is a dumpster fire this year he is one of their better players. Spicer is a backup for a god awful Toronto team, but he is getting minutes in every game off the bench. Being a backup for a terrible MLS team is not a major feather in the cap, but this is still a competent front 3 by Caribbean standards that can hurt you if you switch off.

Things drop off below that though. From what I understand their preferred midfield is Molino who had a nice MLS career but is 34 and playing in The Trinidadian league now plus a dude who's a backup in The Canadian Premier League and a 24 year old who plays for a middling team in England's Third Tier

Their top CB pairing seems to be a guy playing in Jamaica after failing to break through in USL League Two and a 34 year old who's played a lot of games in Belgium and Russia's top flights but spent this season as a backup in Belgium's second tier. Their fullbacks seem to be picking between two of The Jones Brothers one of which is a 33 year old who had a decent MLS stint but is playing in Trinidad now, the other is a 30 year old playing for Real Sociedad which sounds good until you realize it's The Honduran one not The Spanish one (though he did score the winning goal the last 2 times T&T beat us) or they can throw in a dude playing left back in The Jamaican Premier League.

Goalkeeper plays in USL League One


You could make an argument for Levi Garcia but beyond that is there a position on the field where The US doesn't have a gigantic talent edge? Plus we're at home.

I think this game could get ugly as I don't trust this team to create loads of chances, but I could also see us scoring in 7 minutes and then running up the score. The odds I've seen have been between 8:1 and 9:1 for a draw and between 15:1 and 19:1 for a Trinidad win. This would be on another stratosphere from The Panama upsets, and would absolutely leave me questioning if we're in crisis mode with this current coaching staff.

This team could ******** up a quarterfinal to Panama, Costa Rica, or Jamaica, but this should not be a game we're worrying about

 

You have accurately described McGlynn's limitations and Philly's attempts to create a squad that compensates and enables his best version.

What did that get them besides a couple of incredible passes per game? Philly missed the playoffs last season went in another direction, sold McGlynn to Houston for $2.1M + bonuses to $3.4M. Philly is currently top of the East and has the 2nd best record in all MLS.

Houston who bought McGlynn to hopefully replace Hector Herrera as their midfield general had a bust as a Hector replacement until Olsen made the genius move to convert McGlynn to an inverted winger. He has scored 2 bangers in 9 appearances in that role. Is that enough, we will see they are currently outside the playoffs.

I agree McGlynn is a world class ball striker. As for players on the current roster who have world class attributes:

Turner was a world class shot stopper. That is why Arsenal bought him.
Miles is a CB world class run/jump athlete. Still can sprint >35kph even after Achilles surgery.
Adams is a world class destroyer.
Malik has world class press resistance and close control. He also led the Eredivisie in through balls.

The question for me is can we afford a player with McGlynn's limitations against live opponents. I assume he would be fine against ELO 104 T&T! .

 

No sign of Adams

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And the deadline is actually today to replace (24 hours before our first game not 24 hours before the start of the tournament).

 

That or the thought of going to Southampton.

 

Yeah playing a bunkering team yes. I

 

Well, shit

 

T&T call up guys from USL League one teams like Westchester FC, AV Alta, and Portland Hearts of Pine... if we can't beat them at home because we're missing a Premier League starter just scrap the entire USMNT program.

 

I just enjoy watching them play more with adams

 

Our YNTs have been performing very well against tough competition for a significant period of time... so there is some reason for optimism... but man o man, once our guys hit the U23 level they just seem to consistently perform worse than the sum of their parts. I never thought we could fall as low as we were when we failed to qualify for the WC in T&T.... but it seems worse to me now because the talent is so much greater/deeper and yet they still find ways to **** the bed.

 

No need to risk it

 

Otoh, it was 0-0 with our first 11 in a NL home and home with them just what, like 20 months ago. Yikes.

 

Adams was not ever likely to play v T&T with turf toe issues. They may wait until before the QF window to ask for a medical replacement but even then with 26 players Poch may just wait and see.

Semis and finals are where Adams becomes critical.

 

Repped but we can't move the ball forward without Dest so what's the point anyway?

 

the answer to your question is no.

The McGlynn appearances tell you something about the divide between Poch ototh and most posters here and fan/media: Poch thinks he can afford to play McGlynn in order to gauge his usefulness as the guy who can come in late against a team defending for dear life with a 2-1 lead and take a free kick from 20yds and nail it late. Now, my philosophy of soccer is "skills on the pitch" and taking a free kick would be one of those, for sure. Hwvr, watching McGlynn play soccer is like watching Mr. Magoo looking for a gas leak with a lit match.

 

Well the deadline has come and gone with no announcement.

Of course they could have replaced him before the deadline and just not announced it yet.

The flipside is with a 26 man roster you can carry an extra guy who will be more ready to go later in the tournament.

 

And Pochettino with an update

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Cardoso also missed practice due to illness. No Adams, no Johnny, no bueno.

De la Torre, Luna, Tillman? Seems light on defense. Berhalter, De la Torre, Luna, Tillman and play square 4 with double pivot?

 

I wouldn't be half against that lineup but taking out McGlynn and inserting Haji there and moving Downs up top.

 

Another reason why I think there's a chance Mathis Albert could make the WC Squad if he has an outstanding 9 months. The team is pretty weak at actual true wingers, IMO>