USMNT Talk
- Thread starter MyBoyVilla
- Start date
Zardes looked like the wrong choice from the first minute. He does not have good enough touch ... I don’t just see the choice…
Also felt a bit like watching NYCFC where something is missing in finishing.
i don't think finishing was THAT big of an issue. it was just lack of creativity in the final 3rd and inability to break down canada's defensive block, which they went into after they scored early. we just kept sending in crosses to space and hoping for something to happen. the last 10 minutes of the game were essentially long balls and hope something happened.
there weren't a whole lot of combinations, not much creativity, not a lot of fantastic ball movement. we dominated most of the game because canada basically let us have the ball and opted to play on the counter with essentially two guys up front. and when they did counter, our CBs could barely handle it.
Robinson has proven himself but he didn't have the greatest of games. Richards seemed like he was out of position often.
antonee, dest, pulisic.. all essentially contained today.
i agree, zardes just wasn't good enough.
this team cracks me up every time they have interviews and talk about getting 9 points in a qualifying window or how they can "dominate games." They have yet to show they can dominate anybody in a WCQ. Of course, results are what matter. But until you are blowing away teams, probably best to shut your mouth and show what you can do on the field... so far, they haven't done that.
I’m kind of fed up with this squad. They’re never consistently the most active and energetic team on the field. We were completely flat footed on Canada’s first goal, and too much of the rest of the game., Better in the second half, but not enough. and I blame the players more than the coach. This isn’t a club where the coach has substantial control over culture. The players need to be better.
We’re also desperate for a strong striker. There’s gonna be a lot of rote complaints about Zardes starting, but after Pepsi’s 2 goal early flash, neither he nor his fellow Dallas product have impressed me. Both too slight and easily bodied, without finding open spaces enough. And we don’t have much else. As for non striker forwards - I agree about Pulisic. Tuchel has for the time being ruined him. Would love to have Reyna available.
Miles Robinson had a worse game playing his natural position than the performance that got Sands demoted while playing his third best spot. Did Zimmerman need rest? But Sands’ problem is the team is set at D-Mid and the US rarely plays 3 at the back.
Finishing was maybe the wrong terminology but whatever you want to call it the final third effort reminded me of many frustrating NYCFC games.
One player that I feel always shows tenacity is Aaronsen.
yea. aaronsen plays with his head on fire but is composed at the same time. wish the other guys would play like that instead of showing their arrogance every time they got fouled and didn't get a call. whine whine whine.
aaronsen and mckennie were our best players today. but two isn't enough. wish arriola and morris had started. they looked like they were ready to play but didn't have enough time to make a difference
Are they set at D-mid? Adams is the starter of course. I think he's good, but he gives up the ball a lot. His athleticism allows him to recover in most cases, but his calmness on the ball and passing ability isn't as good as Sands, imo. He just has a much better engine. I don't think Adam's backup is set in stone yet either. Having Sands and his versatility is pretty valuable, I think.
I agree. Not sure why Zimmerman needed a break. Should have started Robinson and Zimmerman.
Agree with everyone that we need a strong forward. This team is very young and inexperienced when it comes to international play. We don't have a single veteran on the team to lead the way on the field (or off it?). Pulisic seemed like a whiny baby who is trying to do too much as if he's trying to show Tuchel that he should be playing and in his preferred position. All he's done is prove Tuchel right for keeping him on the bench.
When I said "set" I was being cagey and maybe too subtle. I don't mean I personally think he's behind multiple better options, but I do think Berhalter views the depth chart as set and without Sands near the top: Adams, Yueill, and maybe I'm confused, but I think we've seen Acosta at D-Mid on the NT. I think Berhalter likes Sands' versatility, but he thinks it works best with James switching between Center CB and D-Mid, and the USMNT is not a team that plays with a Center CB if its defense is healthy. When he tried James as part of a CB pair, he stumbled, unfortunately. I'm confident he's capable of better, but it is what it is.
Last edited:
As for the forward, I forgot about Dike. I really wish he showed better when he had the chance.
Gregggg used the excuse that the field was too narrow saying “it was like Yankee Stadium.”
You can take the coach out of MLS but you can’t take the MLS out of the coach.
lol did he really? i haven't seen any post game interviews.
I did hear that he also said "the result wasn't good but the performance was good" or something along those lines. What the hell is he smoking?
Personally, we have great talent in this current player pool and some of the blame is on them for not playing with the grit and toughness US soccer has been known for. It's like we got more talented and all of a sudden our guys are whining on the ground about not getting calls and getting easily knocked off the ball. But GB has some fault in this too. Maybe he's just spewing garbage for the media, but if he can't recognize that we didn't play very well today, he's delusional. His constant tinkering with different lineups game after game isn't working. Pick your best and play them until they're injured or tired or unavailable. Tinkering was fine with friendlies and meaningless tournaments but this is WCQs. You need your best XI and you need them gelling and reading each other's minds even if we do squeak into the world cup, it'll be a very short one.
Uh, Greg. A Bit of advice. If you don’t want to appear as pathetic, a loser, in over your head… you might want to not preface an audible thought with, “please don’t take this as an excuse…”
I mean, why not, “please don’t take this as an excuse but playing in a stadium oriented counter to the local ley lines on a Sunday afternoon in late January after a Wolf moon…”
Did the narrow field actually play a part in why and how Canada’s two goals occurred? Seriously, give my the physics of how the narrow field was instrumental in the goals that were scored.
I’m going to the Panama match in Orlando and if we don’t get a result against Mexico that game will be a must win. There’s a real chance we fall out of top 3 and wind up going to the play-in tournament.
This is one of those moment where I wish one of the reaction emojis was an annoyed eye roll
We’ve hit Kreis level whining here. Maybe we should have called up Parks or Sands since they’re used to playing on a narrow field.
oh the rest of his press conference was as delusional, talking about how wonderful they played and how satisfied he was with the underlying play. Once Canada scored first the rest of the game was a breeze for them.
“we got the ball? Should we go forward?”
“Nah, let’s let Canada set their defensive lines and then pass it around the back and THEN we’ll go forward. They’ll never see it coming!”
I guess I am in the minority, but I thought we played well, but the dynamics of the game made it really hard on us. We dominated possession, even if we moved the ball a bit slowly at times. We seemed to win most of the duals.
The issue is that once Turner, Robinson and Richards shat the bed in the 7th minute, Canada could sit back a bit and absorb pressure, and they made things very difficult. The last goal was in stoppage time when we were throwing numbers forward and not indicative of the state of play overall.
Lesson - don't gift a team an early goal, especially on the road. If there was on decisive difference in the game, it was that their strikers outclassed our centerbacks by a fair margin, while our striker didn't outclass their centerbacks even a little bit.
The issue is that once Turner, Robinson and Richards shat the bed in the 7th minute, Canada could sit back a bit and absorb pressure, and they made things very difficult. The last goal was in stoppage time when we were throwing numbers forward and not indicative of the state of play overall.
Lesson - don't gift a team an early goal, especially on the road. If there was on decisive difference in the game, it was that their strikers outclassed our centerbacks by a fair margin, while our striker didn't outclass their centerbacks even a little bit.
Similar threads
