USMNT 2024
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IthacaMatt
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Terrific 2nd half. Reyna was the key player. It's hard to understand why he isn't finding game time at some club. He sees a pass unlike anyone else on our team.
Defensively, I think Matt Turner losing the starting job at Nottingham has hurt his confidence. He should have saved that goal in the 1st minute of the game.
Defensively, I thought Miles Robinson was a bit rusty in possession, and I thought that Cliff Richards was poor on the counter attack, especially with balls hitting the turf. He misjudged the bounce more times than you want to see.
Maliq Tillman had some good moments in the first half, but we were kind of blunt in attack. Pulisic, Weah were not bad. McKennie gave away too many balls, and looked a bit off the pace. Robinson at left back had a mediocre game. Scally didn't really impress in the first half.
Balogun made some runs, but never really threatened. Pepi and Haji Wright were both very active. Pepi tracked back a lot to defend and help with build-up play, lots of nice combination play. Wright, of course, made direct runs at the goal, and they were slipping passes into him nicely.
I liked Tony Meola's comment about Brendan Aaronson, that he brings a bit of chaos, and we needed some unpredictability at that point in the game. He works very hard and is a 1 man press, very good at unsettling the other team high up the pitch.
I'm feeling like we have some work to do defensively, but we have a lot of talented guys on this team, and it was really nice to see pretty much all of them on the pitch together.
We certainly dodged a bullet, but I think we are going to see a better performance in the final.
Reyna should start. Use Adams for the first 45-60 minutes, and then bring McKennie off the bench for him. Keeps Weston fresh, and he can be the impact sub. He seemed a bit off the pace today. I would guess we'll see Dest at right back in the next game. I wonder if he'll switch central defenders. Neither were great.
Defensively, I think Matt Turner losing the starting job at Nottingham has hurt his confidence. He should have saved that goal in the 1st minute of the game.
Defensively, I thought Miles Robinson was a bit rusty in possession, and I thought that Cliff Richards was poor on the counter attack, especially with balls hitting the turf. He misjudged the bounce more times than you want to see.
Maliq Tillman had some good moments in the first half, but we were kind of blunt in attack. Pulisic, Weah were not bad. McKennie gave away too many balls, and looked a bit off the pace. Robinson at left back had a mediocre game. Scally didn't really impress in the first half.
Balogun made some runs, but never really threatened. Pepi and Haji Wright were both very active. Pepi tracked back a lot to defend and help with build-up play, lots of nice combination play. Wright, of course, made direct runs at the goal, and they were slipping passes into him nicely.
I liked Tony Meola's comment about Brendan Aaronson, that he brings a bit of chaos, and we needed some unpredictability at that point in the game. He works very hard and is a 1 man press, very good at unsettling the other team high up the pitch.
I'm feeling like we have some work to do defensively, but we have a lot of talented guys on this team, and it was really nice to see pretty much all of them on the pitch together.
We certainly dodged a bullet, but I think we are going to see a better performance in the final.
Reyna should start. Use Adams for the first 45-60 minutes, and then bring McKennie off the bench for him. Keeps Weston fresh, and he can be the impact sub. He seemed a bit off the pace today. I would guess we'll see Dest at right back in the next game. I wonder if he'll switch central defenders. Neither were great.
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IthacaMatt
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That second goal for Mexico at the end of their first half against Panama was pure BS. As Charlie kept saying, "the call on the field was offside, that wasn't convincing enough evidence to overturn it." When they showed the 'official line", it was crooked as hell. Gift goal.
NailstheCusefan12
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Typical loser behavior from Mexico. Few things in sports make me happier than a Dos a Cero
Melancer46
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Seriously those were both gorgeous. The move by Pulisic to help set up the second one too. USMNT has made scoring look so difficult over the years but those were A+ goals.
PeteCalvin
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I thought Berhalter, finally, didn’t overthink his roster and went with the right lineup from the start. Other than sending Cardoso to replace Adams, his choice of subs was on the money. This team played to win last night and dominated Mexico in an away game atmosphere. The Mexico fans are such garbage. They know they aren’t going to win and decide to start playing for a game delay.
Our Euro-based players are soooo much better than our MLS guys. Hopefully all stay healthy the rest of the season going into Copa America.
Our Euro-based players are soooo much better than our MLS guys. Hopefully all stay healthy the rest of the season going into Copa America.
IthacaMatt
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Yes, I agree. Watching these 2 games felt like the first time we've really seen the whole team together, and the right guys all played.
Now, I think it's pretty clear that Gio is not best as a deep lying playmaker, and needs to be closer to the opponent's goal. But other than that, it looked like our first team all getting time together, and I really liked what I saw.
McKennie not at his best out wide; keep him inside as the defensive mid if Adams isn't in there. We seem to have number 9's who are improving and pose a real threat.
Goalkeeper had a better game. Defense is far more solid when you have Tim Ream in there. Still need cover for the fullbacks, but generally, I'm really liking our team. Lots of promisee.
PeteCalvin
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They are in a pickle. If they let their top talent go to Europe in droves, then Liga MX loses a lot of its luster, and those club owners want to keep the fans happy. But they are also greedy and corrupt, so their best young players are left to languish in country.
IthacaMatt
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MLS contract (because of Messi) makes Liga MX toast. Playing all these League Cup games between Liga MX and MLS in the US further undermines their product as 2nd class.
IthacaMatt
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Yes, one more thing I would add, Pete, is that I hope he settles on the roster & the main 14 or 15 guys, and plays them more. The time to cycle through the whole damn player pool is over. We know who our guys are, and they all seem to be getting better. I just want these guys to build more real chemistry working together.
I think it is a huge advantage that so many of them play for sophisticated European clubs, so these guys can understand and take on the instruction better than some of the young MLS guys, in particular (thinking of Scally, in a previous window), who think the national team instructions and tactics need to be dumbed down, since the national team only gets together for short windows.
In fact, this is the one area where sticking with Berhalter made the most sense. If we want our European guys to play with sophisticated tactics like they do with their clubs (which will improve our chances in international competitions), then we have to emulate THAT approach, rather than the traditional US approach of defend and hit on the counter. We aren't winning any trophies playing a 4-4-2. LOL
Klinsmann wanted to play this way, but had no freaking idea how to teach it. He always left the tactics to others. (Not a coach.). Berhalter has implemented what Klinsmann wanted to do. These guys playing in Europe are so much better than the ones Klinsmann was recruiting, though, and we are so much farther along as a country because so many of these young kids went to Europe as teens, and learned the right way to play there.
We need to tighten up. We were sloppy with the ball. But that's a nice collection of talent we've got here. These next couple years are full of huge promise.
PeteCalvin
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100%, Matt. We were definitely sloppy up the middle in the first half. McKennie had some terrible passes, guys couldn’t maintain control of the ball, and they weren’t talking to each other when MX was pressing up on the where passes were going. Pulisic, Reyna and Dest had to come through the middle and get ball moving forward.
I agree that Berhalter needs to stick with his top 15 guys and build the chemistry. I was not a fan of him starting Scally against the Reggae Boyz, and it bit us in the ass. He knew Dest was not available for awhile, so he could have come up with a better plan there. I’m feeling really good about how our #9 pool is filling out. Balogun hasn’t set the world on fire in the last 2-3 windows, but you can’t teach the instincts he has. Haji Wright is a big body and the kind of striker we need against the big boy defenses. Pepi is also a strong player because he can do more than just hang around in the box, so he’s almost an extra midfielder when you need it. We need to develop more quality defensive depth and get our keepers playing more consistently at European clubs.
And you’re right on with Berhalter’s playing style, although he needs to become more tactically savvy with formations. Berhalter ball looks so much more fluid with our top players out there. As you said, they understand it and it’s second nature based on the clubs they’ve developed with. When we’re clicking, we can actually string passes together and are dangerous. If we could finish with more quality, oh boy!
NailstheCusefan12
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This angle is beautiful.
orangenauburn
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That angle makes Mexico goalie position look even worse than it was
IthacaMatt
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That sucks. He'll likely miss Copa America, then. Hope it's not an ACL.
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