Well, some character building for the new group of players at the Gold Cup.
Disappointed with the loss, naturally. But I'm not sure that this team was good enough top-to-bottom to win it, if we're being honest.
In goal, Matt Turner with another penalty save that gave us some hope, but it was really his error that gave up the goal, by coming out too far to try to steal that long ball. He would have done better to just make his body big, and make the guy shoot around him. Turner did have the yips a few times in this game, after being pretty outstanding throughout the rest of the tournament.
On defense, this team was never the same after Jalen Neal, the 19 year old, got hurt in the group stage. He was our best central defender, although Coach Callaghan did them no favors by playing, I believe, 4 different center back pairings in 5 games.
Aaron Long was poor, especially in the first half when he faced planted while trying to get back to defend a Panama fast break.
Miles Robinson never showed us his best throughout the tournament. Yes, he is recovering from injury and had to be nursed through his minutes. But he was careless with the ball a lot. Yes, the fields were dry and played slow, but he was worse than others.
MIazga was poor earlier in the tournament, but had a pretty good game coming off the bench against Panama.
DeJuan Jones was better in the group stage than he was in the knock out rounds. The coach probably wanted him to remain solid and not take too many chances. He's a quality player, though. We'll see more of him in the coming years. He seems the best candidate to back up Antonee Robinson, at this point, probably, over Reggie Cannon and Shaq Moore.
Sergino Dest generally had a good tournament in the Nations League, and should hold down the starting spot. But Bryan Reynolds was a big discovery, even if he did wear down a bit by his 5th game in 2 1/2 weeks. I think DeAndre Yedlin is a very good veteran to keep in the mix. He's especially useful when you want to see out a game.
In midfield, James Sands had a terrific tournament. He got over-run a bit by Jamaica in the first game, but grew into the squad and was a midfield anchor by the end, with the most interceptions and break-ups of anyone in the squad. We are deep in midfield, but if someone gets hurt, he's a solid guy to have at the DM spot. The new "Kellyn Acosta" kind of guy to have on the roster.
Some people questioned how good Gianluca Busio was coming into this tournament. I think we got a really good look at him. He is calm in possession, and can either play in deep midfield to set the pace of the offense and help advance it from the center backs. Or he can play more forward on the right side of a midfield three. He makes really good through passes, has nice touch on the ball, and is very composed. Some might say that he could work harder on defense, and maybe he could be in better condition. But he did play the majority of minutes for 5 games and also became an anchor on this squad. He's not a starter in our Best 11, but he should make a 23 or 25 man roster.
Djordje Mihailovic is an MLS caliber of player. He had some good moments, but he also had a lot of stray passes. Again, the fields were dry and slow and not very good. But everyone played on the bad pitches, not just him. He doesn't make the squad on the A team.
In the attack, Jesus Ferreira got "a goal that mattered" to tie the game late versus Panama, and his 7 goals were supplemented by some excellent link-up play, as he dropped into midfield to find the game. I think he has a great nose for the ball, and knows how to find open spaces.
At 5-9, with quick thinking and quick reactions, he strikes me as the kind of smaller attacking forward that you would play off a target man in a traditional 4-4-2. He's a Chicarito kind of player up front. And that's sort of what Callaghan did by starting both him and Brandon Vazquez vs. Panama. Panama had 2/3 of the first half possession, so Vazquez never really got into this game.
Vaquez showed that he can score off the bench against tired players (much like Cade Cowell). He didn't show that he's any better than Ricardo Pepi, Darryl Dike, Jordan Pefok or even Josh Sergeant. I'm not too impressed, although I guess I should be more forgiving since the guy scored 3 goals off the bench in 4 relief appearances.
People who failed their auditions: Alan Soñora, Aidan Morris, Alex Zendejas. We'll see Zendejas again relatively soon, because he has some skills, but we might not see the other 2 for quite some time.
Jordan Morris and Julian Dressel didn't do very much to make me feel like we have to include them on future rosters, unless none of the European guys are available in that window.
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