2020 USMNT Thread

[DeGrozz]

Threading the needle through half of a UCL defense...

 

[49ers]

November squad going to be released tomorrow. Yunus Musah from Valencia will be on there it sounds like.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

2026 World Cup Champions

 

[cusefan88]

WOW! in my younger days I used to post on Yanks Abroad (Big Soccer). they must be going wild today.

 

[DeGrozz]

WOW! in my younger days I used to post on Yanks Abroad (Big Soccer). they must be going wild today.

BigSoccer was amazing back in the day. Yanks Abroad, World Rivalries, etc. That place could be chaos.

The orange traffic cones and ankle biting midget of death threads were legendary.

So was Connor (??) the nationally ranked soccer player.

 

[cusefan88]

BigSoccer was amazing back in the day. Yanks Abroad, World Rivalries, etc. That place could be chaos.

The orange traffic cones and ankle biting midget of death threads were legendary.

So was Connor (??) the nationally ranked soccer player.

Mix Diskerud used to post there too.

 

[DeGrozz]

Mix Diskerud used to post there too.

Ha - I forgot about that one!

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

I love what Pulisic brings to the table as a player, but I can’t help but think Adams is the true captain of this group for the next 10+ years.

 

[jordville]

 

[DeGrozz]

Ooofff...

I've seen enough of Pulisic on the right with Lampard's Mount experiments. Never play your best player out of position.

 

[cusefan88]

Pulisic is not playing. He has a minor knock IIRC. Or at least if he plays it's not more than 30-45 mins.

 

[DeGrozz]

Pulisic is not playing. He has a minor knock IIRC. Or at least if he plays it's not more than 30-45 mins.

I think there's a chance he plays. I don't believe he's been replaced on the roster, which you normally do when someone's a scratch.

My guess is that you're right and that he gets 30-45 minutes in our second game.

We just don't have enough opportunities to get our guys together in this environment. It makes me assume that they'll be a little less cautious with small injuries so we can get the experience of playing together with this young team.

 

[DeGrozz]

I think there's a chance he plays. I don't believe he's been replaced on the roster, which you normally do when someone's a scratch.

My guess is that you're right and that he gets 30-45 minutes in our second game.

We just don't have enough opportunities to get our guys together in this environment. It makes me assume that they'll be a little less cautious with small injuries so we can get the experience of playing together with this young team.

So much that I know...

 

[DeGrozz]

Anyone watch the game?

I recorded it and probably won't get to it until crack of dawn Saturday AM.

I saw the starting lineup and it looked like GGG was playing Gio on the wing. Was surprised at that after his recent Dortmund performances. Thought it was pretty clear he's significantly better in the center of the pitch and didn't really have the athletic set to do what we'd want a winger to do.

Also interested to see how the defense shaped with Dest and Robinson at wingbacks. Did Adams drop back into a 3 man backline when in possession?

Not sure who Wales ran out there, but reading the articles leading up to the game they reminded me a lot of our mid-2000s teams -- lots of mid-tier talent that had been playing together a while and punching a little above their weight class.

Would be interested hearing what a few of you think.

 

[upperdeck]

it thought for the first 30 min that was as fun a group to watch play as I have seen in 20-30 yrs. For a group that has not really spent any time together so many nice passing plays.. They dominated the ball for 75% of the half. Were unable to finish on the back end of about 5 plays.

The 2nd half the still controlled the ball but the chances were fairly even. We went a little 2 much 1-1 with the ball but still some very creative passing and ball control.

I dont recall the last time we had multiple guys on the field who can create and pass as well.. What we didnt see was any finishers show up.

Still to have two 17 yr old kids on the field in one game and still be the better team against a top 20 squad is pretty cool going forward.

I didnt know the US knew how to do some of the back heel, cross over step moves

Wales had one good chance that forced a nice save but it was really just a bad play on D not really from any build up..

also it was good to see the US be the faster team on the field for once..

 

[Alsacs]

I just watched the Wales match.
I don't understand why Berhalter wouldn't just plug in the players and have them do what they are doing for their club team.

Coaching is such a major problem for the USMNT.

Hire Jill Ellis I don’t care or anybody else. This team needs a new manager.
They aren’t going to win anything with Berhalter.

This team has young talent and the coach doesn’t have them do what they are doing for the best teams in Europe.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Pulisic is not playing. He has a minor knock IIRC. Or at least if he plays it's not more than 30-45 mins.

He traveled to camp just to be around all the new young guys. They haven't all been together before. He stayed 2 days, then flew back to Chelsea for continued treatment. No new injury, so far as I have heard. This was pre-arranged with Lampard and Berhalter.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Anyone watch the game?

I recorded it and probably won't get to it until crack of dawn Saturday AM.

I saw the starting lineup and it looked like GGG was playing Gio on the wing. Was surprised at that after his recent Dortmund performances. Thought it was pretty clear he's significantly better in the center of the pitch and didn't really have the athletic set to do what we'd want a winger to do.

Also interested to see how the defense shaped with Dest and Robinson at wingbacks. Did Adams drop back into a 3 man backline when in possession?

Not sure who Wales ran out there, but reading the articles leading up to the game they reminded me a lot of our mid-2000s teams -- lots of mid-tier talent that had been playing together a while and punching a little above their weight class.

Would be interested hearing what a few of you think.

Well, it was the Wales B team, with the coach saving their best players for the 2 Nations League games to come.

That said, I have never seen a US midfield play that well. They harassed the ball all over the park, never let Wales get into their offense. Real swag on the ball, confident handles in tight spaces. Really unlike anything we have ever seen from the US. Sure, we've had teams that had bulldozers in midfield, but our best guy dribbling the ball was someone like Darlington Nagbe, and he would be the only guy who could do it.

This team has so much young midfield and attacking talent that it kind of reminded me of Chelsea from earlier in the season, as the players were getting to know each other. Like Chelsea, the US is questionable at the back, but not against Wales.

Brooks and Miazga played well together. Handled the ball well, good distribution from Brooks most of the time. (He missed a few long balls, but those were mostly early in the game.)

Antonee Robinson is not a fit on this team. He can run and put in a cross, but he lacks good close control, he's too loose with his passing, and he loses concentration too often defensively, forced to sprint back to cover a man who just blew past him. He's just not that good defensively, and he's not sound enough on the ball to ever be an important player on this team. The opening at Left Back persists.

We still lack a proper number 9. Lletgett was terrible. He is kind of an Adam Lallana style midfielder, and there are times that could be useful coming off the bench in the 2nd half, but him playing as a false 9 just meant that he, Gio Reyna and Konrad were all looking to occupy the same space that would usually be taken up by your number 10. The attack got all bunched up, lacked open space and made our attacking line easier to defend.

I hope Musah chooses the US permanently in June, because, wow, him, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams were the best US midfield I have seen. They allow us to play a 4-3-3, whereas Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones forced us to play a more defensive 4-2-3-1 and lacked the ability to possess the ball and make quality box-to-box runs that these guys consistently showed.

THIS WAS MODERN FOOTBALL!!

A great step forward. Very pleased. Very optimistic.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I just watched the Wales match.
I don't understand why Berhalter wouldn't just plug in the players and have them do what they are doing for their club team.

Coaching is such a major problem for the USMNT.

Hire Jill Ellis I don’t care or anybody else. This team needs a new manager.
They aren’t going to win anything with Berhalter.

This team has young talent and the coach doesn’t have them do what they are doing for the best teams in Europe.

I thought that's very much what we did - play like these kids play on their club teams. It's just that we had no proper striker as an outlet or man to play off (like a Giroud), and Robinson was a constant danger defensively at left back.

 

[Alsacs]

I thought that's very much what we did - play like these kids play on their club teams. It's just that we had no proper striker as an outlet or man to play off (like a Giroud), and Robinson was a constant danger defensively at left back.

Lletget was awful.
Completely in the wrong spot and with the talent we had on the pitch out of place.
He isn’t a 9.
We had young guys like Soto or Gioacchini who can actually play there.

Reyna plays as a CAM we had him out of position. He can play the 10 but he is a playmaker.

The USMNT isn’t going to win anything with Berhalter with the young roster the team has we should hire a real international manager and let GB go back and coach in the MLS.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Lletget was awful.
Completely in the wrong spot and with the talent we had on the pitch out of place.
He isn’t a 9.
We had young guys like Soto or Gioacchini who can actually play there.

Reyna plays as a CAM we had him out of position. He can play the 10 but he is a playmaker.

The USMNT isn’t going to win anything with Berhalter with the young roster the team has we should hire a real international manager and let GB go back and coach in the MLS.

I agree with a lot of this.

I think our best team is TBD, but we are much closer.

Put Reyna in the hole as the central playmaker. Keep Pulisic on the left wing. Play somebody more physical at center forward. Find a left back. To think that with Dest, somebody like DeAndre Yedlin becomes a quality option off the bench or if Dest gets injured. That shows progress in the quality of our squad.

Is Sargeant better than Atidore. Does Altidore still make the US roster when qualifying starts? I still think he has a place. I could see him as a great option off the bench in the last 20 minutes when we need a goal. But who starts?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Here is my current 25 man USMNT Roster:

Goalkeepers
Zack Steffen
Bill Hamid
Ethan Horvath

Defenders
Matt Miazga
John Brooks
Walker Zimmerman
Aaron Long
Sergino Dest
DeAndre Yedlin
Reggie Cannon
Julian Araujo

Midfielders
Weston McKennie
Tyler Adams
Yunus Musah
Tim Weah
Paul Arriola
Christian Roldan
Sebastian Lletget
Djordje Mihailovic

Attacking Players
Christian Pulisic
Gio Reyna
Josh Sargent
Jordan Morris
Sebastian Soto
Tyler Boyd

 

[cusefan88]

For national teams, the manager needs to take what he has and make the system out of that with minor tweaks. Just look at how Reyna plays with Haaland. Of course nobody in the US striker pool has Haaland's talents but it's obvious Reyna thrives with a striker making fast and direct runs. The false 9 was idiotic and wasted one of two precious games.

Tbh I want to see what they do for the Olympics should they qualify. It's 1997 birth years so all the major players are eligible: Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Dest, Reyna, Sargent, Weah, etc.

 

[DeGrozz]

Lletget was awful.

Lletget was a warm body and his team was just eliminated from contention from MLS playoffs. He had a terrible club year and was called in by Berhalter as he's one of the few players in our pool that could be called in that wouldn't disrupt the MLS playoffs (with players' mandatory 2-week quarantines after int'l travel). He's definitely something you can blame on the pandemic.