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Message: [QUOTE="Forza Azzurri, post: 5454268, member: 1452"] The Costa Rica game was the most enjoyment I've had watching a US game in quite some time. Yeah it was Costa Rica and yeah it was Costa Rica not at full strength and yeah our D gave up two goals to a Costa Rica team not at full strength and Arfsten may have been the MVP for both teams, BUT: The off-the-ball movement was great. Agyemang, Luna & Tillman played really well off of each other. I really like Luna. Good skills and vision and good anticipation defensively...just seems to always be in the right place to recover the ball or deflect passes. I also really like Freeman. Kid oozes potential and having NFL genes in terms of athleticism cannot hurt. Need more of that. Ayemang is probably not going to be a big goal scorer but his hold-up play is really good and his ability to do that allows others to interplay with him to create chances. Tillman was consistently the best player on the field until he got tired. I also liked Berhalter. Freese, obviously, was man of the match. Now, having said all that, it was a non-full strength Costa Rica - not exactly Spain or France or even Switzerland or Turkey. If we are able to get by Guatemala, we'll see if they can do it against a higher level team like Mexico. And, even if they get it done against Mexico who is really not that good right now, can they get it done against even higher level competition. All TBD. I think I understand why Pochettino waited so long to sub. The group was clicking. First time the US Men's National team has clicked in forever. Why disrupt that. But he did end up subbing too late as our guys were clearly flagging. Best case, we may have found some additional options for next summer in a number of positions. Base case, we have found some quality depth in a number of positions for next summer. Worst case, none of them can take it to a higher level than sub full-strength Costa Rica. First time in a long time, I am really looking forward to watching the next match. [/QUOTE]

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