Pre-match: WCQ: USA vs. Panama (10/6/17)

A competitive fixture vs. Panama in Central Florida? What could possibly go wrong? flashbacks to the 2011 Gold Cup. Oh, right.

 

Great, so the crowd will be 95% Panamanian, just like Harrison, NJ and Costa Rica?

GREAT F******* JOB, USSF!

Edited by moderator: please do not evade the censor in order to post obscenities.

 

So, do I have this right, if T&T get any result tonight we clinch at least 4th place with win vs Panama?

 

Correct. It would also mean that we'd have one foot in the door to Russia if Costa Rica beats Honduras as well.

 

Given that Honduras has two tough opponents left, the path to Russia, despite everything, is still wide open.

 

the #1 thing the players need to remember is you can't score if you don't shoot. In the last two games there were a combined 4 shots...maybe?

 

While it's fresh on my mind, my first take on the roster.

My picks:

GK: Howard, Guzan, Horvath

DF: Chandler*/Lichaj, Johnson, Villafana, Cameron, Besler, Gonzalez, Miazga, Ream

MF: Bradley, Roldan, Williams, McKennie, Arriola, Pulisic, Nagbe, Bedoya

FW: Altidore, Wood, Dempsey

*Chandler may be considered "retired" but after how poor Zusi equipped himself and the lack of a replacement for Yedlin, we may have to enter begging territory.

Starting XI:

-------Wood-----Altidore-----
Nagbe-----Pulisic-------Arriola
-------Bradley--Bedoya------
--Besler-Gonzo-Cameron--
-------------Guzan-------------

Note:
This may be shaking things up too much, but after so many poor performances, it's hard to justify the inclusion of same of the same old faces.

Also, Pulisic should move centrally considering we have zero movement through the middle without him. The nice thing about Arriola is that he seems to try and run off Pulisic, which no one else seem interested in doing.

 

It won't happen but what the hell. It's a 3-4-2-1/3-4-1-2.

-----------------Wood-------------
----------Clint-----------------------
---------------------Pulisic---------
Fabian-----Williams-----------Yedlin
------------------Bradley------------
---Besler---Omar---Cameron---

Yeah, don't like Omar but with JAB out and with two technical CB's on either side this would work.

 

What in the hell were they thinking with these venues? It's pure stupidity and it's comprimising.

 

Yedlin should be ready to go by next month right?

27 man roster:

GK - Howard, Guzan, Hamid
D - Johnson, Villafana, Yedlin, Lichaj, Cameron, Besler, Gonzalez, Miazga, Zimmerman
M - Pulisic, Arriola, Nagbe, Bradley, Acosta, McCarty, Bedoya, Zardes, Williams, Roldan
F - Altidore, Wood, Dempsey, Morris, Dwyer

No time to fxck around.

 

Again, it makes it worse that it's a small stadium. The people who it's more special too and have to travel a bit will make plans and buy their tickets early. The local stragglers, much more apt to be American fans, will get shut out after the stadium is filled.

Panama is going to come out with revenge on their minds after what happened last cycle, and extra motivated for a rare berth in the Gold Cup in sights. Especially with the way Bruce has (mis)managed the team the last two camps, making such predictable mistakes - we should be very afraid going into these next two games.

And we shouldn't in any way be confident in a win @ T&T nor that our rivals will help us out against the teams battling with us for position

Gun-to-head: I may take the playoff spot if it were offered to us right now.

 

GK: Hamid, Guzan, Horvath
DF: Yedlin, Chandler, Besler, Hedges, Miazga, Palmer-Brown, Johnson, Villafana
MF: Bradley, Cameron, Acosta, Trapp, Roldan, Feilhaber, Pulisic, Morris
FW: Agudelo, Altidore, Dempsey, Wood

 

Guzan; Johnson, Besler, Gonzalez, Yedlin; Cameron, Bradley, Nagbe, Pulisic (diamond); Dempsey, Altidore

top subs: Roldan, Wood, Morris, Kljestan, Villafana, Hamid, Miazga, Lichaj, Arriola

That's not necessarily how I'd ideally play it at this point, but we were behind on integration from the Klinsmann era, had some must-win games, injuries, and Bruce royally botched the GC from an integration p.o.v.; so this is where we're at right now.

I have a hunch Hamid, Roldan, and MIazga are more starting-caliber options. Possibly Lichaj too if someone else goes down. But it's more a hunch at this point and they may not handle the pressure. If there was only a way this could have been tested out previously.

But we got that neat b-team Gold Cup trophy. Maybe we could melt it down and sell it to partially offset the gargantuan loss of revenue we'll suffer if we miss the World Cup.

 

It's Panama. It's October. Games should be in Minnesota. Or Denver or RSL for some altitude and cold.

 

Here's the 23-man roster I'd take for the next round of WCQ matches:

GK:
Howard, Guzan, Hamid

Picking Nick Rimando as the 3rd keeper is a waste of time at this point. I'd take either Hamid, Ethan Horvath, Sean Johnson or Jesse Gonzalez. Take your pick, but mine at this point is Hamid (with Horvath close behind).

DEF:
Yedlin, Cameron, Brooks, F.Johnson, Besler, Chandler, Gonzalez, Villafaña

If Brooks is unable to go, I'd start Besler next to Cameron and add Matt Miazga into the roster. I'd be happy with Beasley instead of Villafaña as the backup LB (or the starter if you move Johnson up to midfield), but I'd picking Jorge with an eye toward 2018 (since DaMarcus will be 36 next year).

MID:
Pulisic, Bradley, Bedoya, Nagbe, Acosta, Kljestan, Arriola, Williams

This is a risky bunch because there's no real #6 in this group aside from Bradley, but I'd like to get a look at Danny Williams in the roster and see if he can beat out Bedoya or Acosta to start at #8 alongside Bradley. With Williams' rampaging running and hard tackling, he could end up being a good complement to Bradley's stay at home, sit deep style.

That said, my preference would be to start Bedoya (or I'd go with Acosta) for these games in central midfield next to Bradley, with Pulisic and Nagbe wide.

FOR:
Altidore, Wood, Dempsey, Dwyer

This unit doesn't have a true speedster (Morris), and I'd be OK with taking him instead of Dwyer, but I do think Dwyer potentially gives us more of an ability to poach a goal if needed.


We need more attacking players to be able to bring off the bench in case we need to chase a goal in the second half in either game. For example, if we're tied against Panama in the 65th minute, we need attacking subs and at some point, you can't just keep throwing on forwards like it's FIFA 17. A backup #10 like Sacha Kljestan, Benny Feilhaber or Lee Nguyen were grossly missing from this round of World Cup Qualifiers. All three can unlock defenses and create scoring chances. I like Kljestan the best among the three because I think he's the most consistent chance creator and the most likely to also contribute defensively, but I'd be happy with any of the three. Bottom line: we're not creating enough scoring chances, and these guys (as bench options or spot starters) can help.

 

There was a time, it lasted about 20 years where virtually every home game was an away game. Our players took on as a motivational tool. A sign of pride. But new leadership demands a new tactic. Whining. Bitching and my new favorite: truth bombs that stink of self-pity

 

- Morris has to be there. He just started, put together one of the better performances on the team, while assisting on the game-winning goal. This after scoring the game-winner in the Gold Cup final. He should be a lock.

- Roldan has to be there. He is the highest rated American in MLS regardless of position, we're struggling in central midfield, with ball-winning, plus build-up. He helps these things. He's also super versatile, playing rb, 6, 8, 10, lm, rm, and ss this season. Acosta and Bedoya shouldn't receive favor just because mistakes have been made with them in the past. That sort of thinking has dug this hole.

- Still don't think Chandler is worth a spot, given how many times he's let the team down in the past. Needs to earn trust in friendlies first. There are other ways we can go at rb besides even Yedlin, i.e.: Johnson or Cameron.

- Cameron is first the 6 though.

- Bedoya says himself he's not a d-mid and he's not starter caliber for the U.S. in 2017. That duo also would have major build-up issues, especially in a 442.

- You're making the same mistake with Pulisic that Bruce just did, twice. He's not a standard 442 winger for the U.S. We don't play high enough up the field on average, to avoid him trying to be superman and falling on his face. That's true especially w/ that cm duo you had, and it puts him in less of an impactful position than true a-wing or cam spot (not tethered inside in a 4231).

- Brooks will be injured. He was just ruled out for 3 months. No chance he is match fit. Yes, select Miazga as his replacement.

 

Nervous already.

 

Good post - thanks for the detailed reply. A few things:

• I'd be equally fine with Dwyer or Morris. I do like Morris as a #4 forward because he has raw speed that others don't have, and that's a great quality to bring off the bench to run at tired defenders. But I do think Dwyer is a more complete forward and I suspect both Panama and T&T will make the game compact and bunker against us, rendering Morris' speed a little less useful.
• I'd like to see Danny Williams ahead of or before Cristian Roldan again at this point. Williams can cover a ton of ground and get stuck in in the tackle, which could make him a good partner for Michael Bradley's new role as a stay-at-home #6. He's played well with Reading the past two seasons and I think he deserves a look.
• I'm definitely not a big Tim Chandler fan, but am willing to call him in as a backup RB especially in case we want to play a 3-5-2. Chandler has wingback experience that Eric Lichaj doesn't have. If we don't want to call Chandler, though, I think I'd rather take Lichaj than Zusi.
• I'd start Cameron as a CB next to Besler (thanks for the update on Brooks), but in the roster I picked, he could also slide up to DM if needed (though I think he's better in defense)
• If we don't play with two forwards, then two of Altidore, Wood or Dempsey are sitting. I think we need to find a way to get more than one of them on the field, which means a 4-4-2 or a 3-5-2. If we do want to opt for a 4-2-3-1, I'd consider advocating for Kljestan as a central attacking mid, Pulisic as a free-roaming nominal wide attacking midfielder, and Darlington Nagbe as a pinched in shuttler on the other side (with Johnson as a LB making foraging, overlapping runs into the attack on the left flank).

 

The Honduras game would have been a good opportunity to play Morris and Pulisic up top with 4 mids supporting them. I thought we looked the most threatening when there was interplay between Morris and Pulisic.

------------morris-------puli

---Roldan--dax---Bradley--Bedoya

is what I wanted and I think it would have played out much better against Honduras. Their midfield just passed around Nagbe and Acosta all game and Dempsey was no help in that regard. Bedoya and Roldan on the wings would have helped against Quioto and Ellis.

So what happens against Panama? I don't think we have anything to worry about because Panama aren't any good and we are playing at home.

We will be third and Honduras or Panama will lose to the kangaroos in the play-off and watch the World Cup on TV.

Bruce will play Nagbe and Acosta against Panama and our forwards will be frustrated as all heck then he will put soft touch Zardes in and we win.

 

A win in Trinidad is gtee'd. They are down and out. Their stands were empty. They are not the team they used to be.

I just rewatched most of the Honduras game and we seemed to be playing much easier when we added Cameron in the back and took Nagbe off. Arriola is a bit wild. Acosta did his best work as a kind of wb at the end - he stinks in central mid.

One thing I noticed is how frustrated and mentally tired the players looked during the anthems. They are not happy campers.

The suits have to swallow their pride and accept that our midfield stinks and has to be overhauled to come up to anything resembling a competitive team in Russia. Otherwise we will be last place and a laughingstock.

 

Panama has only won 1 game Away @ Honduras.

T&T have lost 3 home games.

Looks good for us.

 

We need to dominate possession. That is how we win.