USMNT Talk

[Shwafta]

I just think our national team culture is too OK with settling. "Sure, a point is fine, it'll put us on a path to qualifying." We let good enough be good enough, when the goal is to be good. I dunno, maybe I'm being unreasonable, but I just don't think we've learned the lessons from Trinidad.

I think winning the tournaments this summer, while obviously being great, might have also put a cocky air to their heads. Fans think we'll just stroll through now because we won a tournament. Nah, that's not how it works at all. Trinidad, El Salvador, they'll make it hard for us.

 

[413Blue]

Im not too worried about this one....yet.

Now, if we are still dropping points with Pulisic and ideal lineups, oh boy.

If we get 7 points out of this stretch, things are looking Golden.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

I told my friends that are on the fence soccer fans that this is one of the best young teams we’ve fielded in a decade. Yikes. Can’t control possession, no creativity in attack, no threat, kickball, just all around meh.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I think winning the tournaments this summer, while obviously being great, might have also put a cocky air to their heads. Fans think we'll just stroll through now because we won a tournament. Nah, that's not how it works at all. Trinidad, El Salvador, they'll make it hard for us.

I don't think we'll stroll. I do think we should beat El Salvador on the road. There are teams for whom losses or draws are decent road results. El Salvador is not one of them.

 

[413Blue]

I do think El Salvador is better than most people give them credit for.

Basically, I want to see 12 points from the road. That would be 3 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss. Reasonable enough and that would allow us to underperform at home a little bit. Obviously, I want to finish with 40 points, but im a realist.

As exciting as our summer success was, let's remember that we didn't play particularly well in many of those games. We got results, but we scraped by a few easier opponents and were mostly thoroughly outplayed by Mexico twice.

National team success is hard. The talent gulf can be bridged by continuity and familiarity. We have the luxury of lots of talent, but that luxury comes with the cost of having to bring players together from like 10 different league's and generally 11 different clubs in a starting XI. Having team success is a challenge.

 

[FredMertz]

For the more technically savvy folks here: Was there a single visible tactical change in the second half (other than the subs)?

 

[Shwafta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1434615334925963268

 

[413Blue]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1434615334925963268

Did he even leave Nashville? Convenient for him and the team.

 

[moogoo]

mckennie broke covid 19 protocol and got dropped from the 18 ... oh the mistakes of youth!

 

[mgarbowski]

How come all our right backs are such crap?

 

[moogoo]

How come all our right backs are such crap?

we need scally

 

[Shwafta]

We aren't going to qualify for the world cup, are we.

 

[ZYanksRule]

The U.S. National Team: All talk and no action.

 

[413Blue]

Can't really excuse this one. Obviously we have time to get it together, but it sucks to be in a position where we need to "catch up" after just two games.

 

[mgarbowski]

we need scally

And to be fair, Davies is all that

 

[moogoo]

And to be fair, Davies is all that

for sure. he is good. yedlin simply isn't. losing dest was a big loss. his backup should be scally.

 

[Shwafta]

We were missing a striker again. Jordan Morris, I'll be honest I forgot he exists, but I think he's the perfect type of CONCACAF physical striker. I know he plays mostly winger, but I think he could fit into the striker position with the lineup we had today very well.

 

[Gotham Gator]

We have a strong right back in Dest and a fairly deep set of backups, including Cannon and Scally. No need to waste time on a player who did what Yedlin did last night.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Also worth mentioning the big mistake that Adams made that killed a promising attack - petulantly flattening an opponent long after the ball was away. Not a very Adams-like moment, but a big fucking mistake and a selfish one. You don’t bench a guy like Adams for that, but you sure as fuck don’t make him captain for a while.

 

[QuigrNYCFC]

Also worth mentioning the big mistake that Adams made that killed a promising attack - petulantly flattening an opponent long after the ball was away. Not a very Adams-like moment, but a big fucking mistake and a selfish one. You don’t bench a guy like Adams for that, but you sure as fuck don’t make him captain for a while.

Saw that. I think it was retaliatory on Kaye after his flagrant takedown of Pulisic just before. Either way, not a good a look.