I don't think we played horrible. There were periods where James disappeared. Alzate kid was phenomenal under pressure. Lerma would have a perfect game if it wasn't for the penalty. He has really come along and developed into a great player.
The result is the definition of bittersweet. On paper, getting 1 point on the road against one of our toughest rivals and 4 out of 6 to start is a good result. But the fact is that we have a better and deeper squad and we were outcoached and out tactiqued. We were lucky to escape with a point with a late goal. I'll take the point with a grain of salt
man I think I hate Morelos more than Fabian Vargas and Vallejo.... how this dude getting playing time and getting called up? While we tied he should have put in Cantillo in. Falcao scored because he is insanely lucky. thought the Falcao sub was a odd and bad choice. Still think it was despite the goal. also did he make the exact same subs?
I guess I am still thinking about things differently than others here. If you would have told me a month ago that we would beat Venezuela 3-0 without Ospina, Uribe, Diaz, Yairo I would have said thank you very much, those guys always give us trouble. If you would have told me that we would lose Arias and Mina before the Chile game and Medina less than halfway through the Chile game and we would get out of there without losing I would have said you are crazy but I will take it. We all had different expectations coming in here and we have to keep the proper perspective. We got 4 points and scored 5 goals in the process after a way too long hiatus due to a stupid virus. I am still more than happy with these results and hope we continue to jell and improve.
That's why I said on paper. But reality is they were missing players too, and this being a road game is not that significant since it had no fans. The truth is you take the point as part of the process and we are in good shape. The reality is we should have won that game and instead fumbled around sue to poor convocatorias and poor management. We want to see progress. I think last cycle we made it to Russia without beating Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. And we haven't beaten Chile in 8 years. I am not crzd who thinks we should be world champions, but at this point, Chile should really be a team we left behind not continue to struggle with. We are in stuck in the same place
Chile were fighting for their lives and have a lot of heart. They did not want to have zero points in two games. Rueda was crossing himself after their goals because he did not want to get fired. They had a sense of urgency and fought tooth and nail. We did not win this game cause Lerma had a careless mistake that VAR was able to spot and Cuadrado had a bad bounce on the back line go to a guy who always kills us... ..he had a one-v-one against our new Keeper who barely plays for us. We did not deserve three points and in some ways did not deserve one point but the team found a way to get what they needed.
We have this weird cloud over us anytime we play in official games where we almost always have to make a first half substitution 2018 WC (3 out of 4 games) Japan Poland Senegal 2019 CA (1 out of 4) Argentina 2022 WCQ (2 out of 2) Venezuela Chile At some point, it can’t be random bad luck?? We started off strong against Chile but the momentum changed when we lost Medina to injury. Chile was pressing hard and got a favorable VAR call and capitalized off a Cuadrado mistake that probably wouldn’t have happened if Medina or Arias were there. Alzate was shaky in the first half, but dialed it up big time in the second half. With that said, I think it was a waste of a sub putting in Morelos for Muriel. Since we lost Cuadrado’s midfield general role, I would have preferred Cantillo or even Air Jorman subbing in for Muriel. Vargas: couple of good saves, the Alexis goal was not his fault. Read the penalty shot but Vidal placed it upper corner. Jeison: played like a warrior. No complaints Davinson: no complaints. Mojica: great assist to Falcao and had some solid footwork and created some good chances. Had to work hard defensively bc of Isla I think? Medina: made me a believer, our first goal was all him. He was working hard too to keep Alexis under control. Cuadrado: 2nd Chile goal was on him sadly; his absence in midfield was felt at times Alzate: Strong 2nd half - he earned his stripes after last night. Barrios: solid game, would have liked to see cantillo come on for him perhaps? Lerma: beast of a game. Great goal and had another solid shot on goal too. Unlucky penalty. Defensively, he didn’t back down from anyone. We need his spirit / attitude injected into everyone else. When Uribe returns, do we revert back to Barrios-Uribe-Cuadrado or do we stick with Lerma-Barrios-Cuadrado James: was more present in 2nd half. Had a nice shot on goal at one point. Wish he would use his right foot from time to time. Muriel: absent for most part. I think he had one or two moments in first half and a flash of something in second half before being subbed out. I don’t think we will get 90 min out of him ever Duvan: had a nice header in opening minutes of game but disappeared after that. He had the least touches out of everyone who played 90 min and he lost 10 duels. Still the man in my book Morelos: first tactical sub off the bench? I don’t get it. Kinda reminded me of Bacca in 18WC - didn’t do much, but not really his fault bc he’s a #9 when we needed a winger or midfielder to help with possession / creating space Falcao: great goal to end the game. Awareness and presence still there but why have three 9’s on the pitch? You know what came to mind? The 2011 CA game when we lost to Peru. If memory served we had Falcao, Teo, Jackson, Rodallega and Dayro all at the same time on the field with no one in midfield to create space and win possession. CQ: choice of subs kinda weird. I get that it got complicated bc we lost both RBs in two games and didn’t have Díaz, Uribe, Yairo but still - I think the depth chart could have been better allocated.
Queiroz can get criticism but here is another way to look at this cycle : 6 official matches. No losses. We have scored 9 and have given up 2. Queiroz is not doing that bad based on that. People can try and spin negatively and think that we are not progressing but he is doing better than I expected when we first signed him up. The guy has never coached in South America and barely knew our player pool just a year ago.
I actually agree with Homie. If you re-read the match thread there is a lot of cognitive dissonance going on here. As soon as Chile scored half the board flipped on the team (bums, losers, etc.) and the posts reflected the sky falling. The thread goes silent in the last twenty five minutes until the tying goal pretty much as if it didn't happen. The call up was poor but the results are good and the team showed maturity we didn't have before. Whether that's from Pekerman or CQ, we are growing up. That's good.
What could he have done differently in the callup? Call up Roger? Call up Vergara who has never been called up before? Maybe Munoz but he is also very, very green when it comes to the National team too. Although, I still would consider starting him over Cuadrado at RB.
Oddly enough CQ’s subs have only been a concern or questionable in my eyes yesterday and the CA knockout game.....both against Chile LOL I guess we need to cut some slack bc of covid and available players etc but 4 GK is weird unless you have no clue who to use - which is scary at the NT level. I imagine next month will also be a test of the depth chart too with players not likely being available. If any of the players are reading BigSoccer, please [emoji1376][emoji3475][emoji3467] and wear a [emoji40]
You just called out three sensible things. Cardona? Suarez? It's hard when you lose the Porto pair off the top but we needed more variety within the composition of the call up in the attack. But fair play, he made it work.
Cardona was barely getting playing time and looked totally out of shape with Boca last I saw him. Queiroz also sees him more of a Central midfield and not a wing option. I think his time is probably done with the National team unless he plays out of this world in Argentina. Suarez has not played any minutes in a first division yet. It will be interesting to see if he does do well at Granada. He may get his chance in November if he can score some goals.
I score 3-4 goals a game in my men’s league indoor soccer games... want to call me up dude has had like 8 chances. Hasn’t shown anything let him keep developing at club level. Tho maybe going to Qatar so we won’t have to see him again. we have a ton of strikers. Give another one a shot. If calling 30-35 guys who cares but when he only calls 20 field players and keeps insisting on Morelos who is laughably bad each time then maybe wait on him.
This is precisely the stubborn perspective Quieroz must have had, and that's a recipe for disaster. The familiar options are either ruled out or in abysmal form. We know that's a crappy hand to be dealt with. But ruling players out on the basis that they have no experience with the NT is dumb. With Covid, we may not play any friendly matches for a year. New players will have to be called eventually. Besides, Cantillo and Munoz (both initially left out of this roster) were both on the list for the March friendlies without ever having played for the NT. Why are they an exception? His reasoning is clear. He didn't want to call Roger and Cardona because he wants to encourage them to earn minutes and communicate that the NT has high standards. We had literally NO creative substitutes in yesterday's match as a result. Morelos is playing f'n LW. Three 9s on the field at once. We saved that point from pure heart. We will not be so lucky in the future. Call Vergara, Benedetti, hell, even Carbonero or Campaz. Give yourself options.
Don’t ever change Morelos is quickly entering into Bacca-scapegoat territory. Im not sure what he provides off the bench. Guys like Muriel can play the 7 or 9 role. Duvan is a fighter and can provide hold up / decoy opportunities for others and Falcao is one our GOATs. And the games where he has started he’s been meh. I think he scored in one friendly last year but that’s it.
Cantillo and Munoz are exceptions for reasons he knows. I can only speculate. As has been emphasized for months people I have spoken to about him who know him better than us say he is always going to favor Defensive midfielders and CMs over creative type of players. Just his style I suppose. I do not think Cardona will be called up any time soon unless he does a huge turnaround. Roger is a big mystery to me but as you said he just is not getting playing time. As for in the future we will not be so lucky I am not sure. He considers Santos Borre as a #9 and I think he can do well out there with two other #9s. Suarez is another #9 that can also go out wide if need be but is ideally more central. We shall see.
It appears he just does not like Colombian League attacking players. And Benedetti is barely healthy coming off a long injury. And it may be along the same lines of being excluded being more of a creative style of player and not his type of winger.
How are we growing up? We haven't beaten Chile since 2012 and Chile has regressed significantly through that period. I said it before the game. This game was going to show me if we were truly moving forward. Seems like we we are not
1. We can only talk about some individual high performances 2. we only have a game plan in a rigid 4 -3-3 withour variants. 3. to push and attack with disorganization is the opoosite of good.
It is difficult for me and others to come to your same conclusion. I know I will judge how we progress by the time the marathon qualifying is over. Definitely not at the beginning of qualifying in a match without Ospina and Mina.
Certain things require no speculation. He's played every single official match with 2 offensive wingers. Every one. There was no substitute in the whole roster for either James or Muriel, and one of those guys never finishes a 90 minute match and the other has been a fitness concern for 3 years. And being how he has forced Fabra and Morelos to pay at LW, we know that this 433 formation is his bread and butter. If you're going to stay glued to a system, you need the personnel to play in the system. This is the problem. All our players but James and Falcao were born and raised in FPC. If you coach a national team, you better have some respect to its domestic league. Do some scouting. There are options there.
Due to unfortunate circumstances the guy he relies on is in Portugal. Diaz will be a great help come November. I think he will be crucial off the bench in this system.