I am willing to send him to dortmund in exchange for Haaland. not a penny less.
USMNT Talk
- Thread starter MyBoyVilla
- Start date
I am willing to send him to dortmund in exchange for Haaland. not a penny less.
Apparently not. I only watched first half, and I am not sure how I lasted that long given the hot afternoon at the stadium.
I fell asleep on the couch around the start of the second half.
I didn't even try. Yesterday was a travel day for me (wedding on Saturday) and I went to bed 20 minutes after NYCFC ended.
Oh I watched the game, but was way to freakin' tired to post anything LOL. Went straight to bed after the game.
Sands was awesome, yet again. Game itself was shaky, should have been put to bed way earlier than we did, but a win's a win, and CONCACAF's CONCACAF, so that's that.
MLS write-up made it seem like he didn't exactly impress but did enough to have a good game. I only caught bits and pieces but I'm sure our boy held that back 4 together.
I presume you're looking at the player ratings article that gave Sands a 6.5. But check out the 3 Takeaways article:
Considering their ages and the layers of nuance that accompany the position, Robinson and Sands continue to impress with their decision-making, whether picking passes out of the back, facing up to onrushing attackers in transition situations, or striding into midfield to kick-start passing sequences. Think back to the first area above, then ask yourself: Would you be comfortable with one or both of them starting in a big World Cup qualifier?
It sounds increasingly like Berhalter is.
“One of our concerns was how our center backs were going to deal with [Jamaica's] physicality; Cory Burke, [Shamar] Nicholson are tremendous athletes and I thought Miles and James did an excellent job, controlling buildup but also battling. For young players, inexperienced players in knockout rounds, I thought they had an excellent game,” he said.
“Any time you're high pressing, any time you're high in the opponent’s half, you always have the risk of transitions, and you want to be in good positions while you're attacking to control transitions, but nonetheless, they happen. And you need guys that can put out fires. James reads the game extremely well, puts himself in good positions to make plays, and Miles can recover on anything. It's really impressive how he recovers. So it gives us the confidence to say, 'OK, we know we're playing against an athletic team, we know we’re playing against a team with speed, but we can handle it because of the players we have in the back.'”
Three takeaways from USMNT's tense Gold Cup Quarterfinal win over Jamaica | MLSSoccer.com
Test: passed. That’s the very short version of the US men’s national team’s Sunday night. Jamaica gave their hosts all they could handle during a tense, scrappy 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinal on the imperfect grass of AT&T Stadium before a late Matthew Hoppe header nudged the Yanks through. Now
www.mlssoccer.com
I presume you're looking at the player ratings article that gave Sands a 6.5. But check out the 3 Takeaways article:
Considering their ages and the layers of nuance that accompany the position, Robinson and Sands continue to impress with their decision-making, whether picking passes out of the back, facing up to onrushing attackers in transition situations, or striding into midfield to kick-start passing sequences. Think back to the first area above, then ask yourself: Would you be comfortable with one or both of them starting in a big World Cup qualifier?It sounds increasingly like Berhalter is.“One of our concerns was how our center backs were going to deal with [Jamaica's] physicality; Cory Burke, [Shamar] Nicholson are tremendous athletes and I thought Miles and James did an excellent job, controlling buildup but also battling. For young players, inexperienced players in knockout rounds, I thought they had an excellent game,” he said.“Any time you're high pressing, any time you're high in the opponent’s half, you always have the risk of transitions, and you want to be in good positions while you're attacking to control transitions, but nonetheless, they happen. And you need guys that can put out fires. James reads the game extremely well, puts himself in good positions to make plays, and Miles can recover on anything. It's really impressive how he recovers. So it gives us the confidence to say, 'OK, we know we're playing against an athletic team, we know we’re playing against a team with speed, but we can handle it because of the players we have in the back.'”
Three takeaways from USMNT's tense Gold Cup Quarterfinal win over Jamaica | MLSSoccer.com
Test: passed. That’s the very short version of the US men’s national team’s Sunday night. Jamaica gave their hosts all they could handle during a tense, scrappy 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinal on the imperfect grass of AT&T Stadium before a late Matthew Hoppe header nudged the Yanks through. Now
yes i was. i didn't look at the takeaways yet. have to ration out the MLS content lol.
personally, i think those two should be playing over brooks and zimmerman. but i think with a healthy zimmerman, he and brooks will start in the most important games. sands might take the #6 though, if tyler adams isn't healthy.
I never ever take the ratings one seriously, it's quite arbitrary half the time and makes no sense. The takeaway articles i skim and usually give a much better picture
And honestly, Sands' biggest weakness is he's not overly quick or athletic (and while he's come a long way, could still put a few more pounds of muscle on his frame), so facing up against a very physical Jamaica team is likely going to challenge him more than perhaps facing a technically better squad that maybe isn't quite as physical.I presume you're looking at the player ratings article that gave Sands a 6.5. But check out the 3 Takeaways article:
Considering their ages and the layers of nuance that accompany the position, Robinson and Sands continue to impress with their decision-making, whether picking passes out of the back, facing up to onrushing attackers in transition situations, or striding into midfield to kick-start passing sequences. Think back to the first area above, then ask yourself: Would you be comfortable with one or both of them starting in a big World Cup qualifier?It sounds increasingly like Berhalter is.“One of our concerns was how our center backs were going to deal with [Jamaica's] physicality; Cory Burke, [Shamar] Nicholson are tremendous athletes and I thought Miles and James did an excellent job, controlling buildup but also battling. For young players, inexperienced players in knockout rounds, I thought they had an excellent game,” he said.“Any time you're high pressing, any time you're high in the opponent’s half, you always have the risk of transitions, and you want to be in good positions while you're attacking to control transitions, but nonetheless, they happen. And you need guys that can put out fires. James reads the game extremely well, puts himself in good positions to make plays, and Miles can recover on anything. It's really impressive how he recovers. So it gives us the confidence to say, 'OK, we know we're playing against an athletic team, we know we’re playing against a team with speed, but we can handle it because of the players we have in the back.'”
Three takeaways from USMNT's tense Gold Cup Quarterfinal win over Jamaica | MLSSoccer.com
Test: passed. That’s the very short version of the US men’s national team’s Sunday night. Jamaica gave their hosts all they could handle during a tense, scrappy 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinal on the imperfect grass of AT&T Stadium before a late Matthew Hoppe header nudged the Yanks through. Now
I watched the whole game and he could of possibly given up 2 goals due to giveaways or being dispossessed but he did recover. I felt he played much deeper but that was the team in general. He just didn’t impact the game as much as the last two.
Personally, I think he's better as a middle CB in a back 3 or as a #6. i don't think 2nd CB in a back 4 is his strongest position but he showed he CAN play it and play it well enough. He's shown that he's an essential part of the USMNT to give berhalter flexibility in the defensive midfield and defense in terms of covering for injury, depth, and formation. THere's no way berhalter can keep him off the WCQ roster and hopefully the WC roster. I think Sands has cemented himself a spot. He's only going to get better.
If he could just increase his speed, he'd be unstoppable. That's pretty much his only negative, which usually isn't even noticeable because his positioning is so good.
I would add another negative he has is he doesn't provide anything from an aerial perspective on attacking corners or free kicks.
That's definitely far down the list of importance, but teams usually rely on their center backs to provide something on corners and other set pieces and Sands has never been great at that and now you see he's not even coming up for them.
Last year, there were 109 corners where he was on the field and he wasn't in the box for only 2 of them (I will also admit I am missing 15 corners where I don't have video on, so I can't confirm if he was or wasn't in the box, or even if he was on the field). Out of those where he was on the field and didn't come up into the box:
- 1 of those was in the 81' while we had a 1-0 lead (MLS is back against Miami)
- 1 of those was taken quickly where no time was allowed for the center backs to come up (only 2 players in the box)
I've been saving this stat for the corner kick piece I will eventually do, but stadium stuff and life keeps pushing this back.
I think that Acosta is the likely backup to Adams at the 6.
As for CB, there is a long list of European players, and several of them are likely ahead of Sands at CB. Besides Brooks, there are Richards, Miazga, Erik Palmer-Brown, Carter-Vickers, and Mark McKenzie. Only Brooks and Richards regularly start in a top league, but the whole list provides depth that Sands is competing against. On the plus side is Sands' strength in a back 3, if we go in that direction. Also, the compressed schedule is going to require lots of player rotation, so more people will get a shot.
As for CB, there is a long list of European players, and several of them are likely ahead of Sands at CB. Besides Brooks, there are Richards, Miazga, Erik Palmer-Brown, Carter-Vickers, and Mark McKenzie. Only Brooks and Richards regularly start in a top league, but the whole list provides depth that Sands is competing against. On the plus side is Sands' strength in a back 3, if we go in that direction. Also, the compressed schedule is going to require lots of player rotation, so more people will get a shot.
Agree on Acosta and the collection of Eurupean centerbacks. However, none of these players offers the flexibility that Sands offers. Acosta cannot play centerback (and is a questionable fullback). None of the centerback pool can control the game in a three man back line or move up to the midfield as Sands can. If Berhalter rosters Sands, he can bring an extra attacker or outside back - better for pool play rotation and more flexibility for chasing a game if needed.
Bias accepted, I'd put Sands' chance of making significant World Cup rosters (qualifying or more) at better than 50%.
I don't disagree. His flexibility and ability to play the center of a back 3 are all things in his favor. I expect he will get called up to at least some of the 3 game windows. Plus, there is a strong possibility he will be in Europe himself by the time Qatar rolls around.
Matt Turner should be the starting US GK.
Similar threads
