USMNT soccer team thread | Page 51 | Syracusefan.com

USMNT soccer team thread

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We are gassed across the backline. Let's hope we connect on a set piece.
 
Beat Panama at home.

Draw at T&T

The USA should finish 3rd.

If they win at T&T it would be a lock.
 
Honduras fans should check their wallets they just got robbed. Man the US stole one there, stole it.
 
USA road results 0'wins 1 loss 3
Draws.

This is improved.

If we hadn't dropped 2 home matches we would be a lock.
 
kirbivore said:
I need some Bradley bashing
Expand...

Bradley was definitely not the issue tonight.

Omar's mistake cost us dearly and just like on Friday night, we saw that we currently struggle with teams that park the bus.

What we are really struggling with, just about more than any US team in the last 15 years, is disrupting our opponents in the midfield, maintaining possession off the first ball, and winning the second ball. Last cycle Jermaine Jones helped Bradley tremendously with that. In 2010, Maurice Edu made our team significantly better when he was paired with Bradley in that role. In 2002, it was Mastroeni and JOB stepping up next to prime-Reyna.

Right now, we have no one that can fill that position. The game has passed by Beckerman and Jones and for the first time since injuries and suspensions killed us in 2006 we are left without a great physical presence. I almost want to say just place Cameron (Friday night notwithstanding) there, but who knows. I really am not sure we have a good answer right now.
 
DeGrozz said:
Bradley was definitely not the issue tonight.

Omar's mistake cost us dearly and just like on Friday night, we saw that we currently struggle with teams that park the bus.

What we are really struggling with, just about more than any US team in the last 15 years, is disrupting our opponents in the midfield, maintaining possession off the first ball, and winning the second ball. Last cycle Jermaine Jones helped Bradley tremendously with that. In 2010, Maurice Edu made our team significantly better when he was paired with Bradley in that role. In 2002, it was Mastroeni and JOB stepping up next to prime-Reyna.

Right now, we have no one that can fill that position. The game has passed by Beckerman and Jones and for the first time since injuries and suspensions killed us in 2006 we are left without a great physical presence. I almost want to say just place Cameron (Friday night notwithstanding) there, but who knows. I really am not sure we have a good answer right now.
Expand...

Cameron is the best bet in that role in our current player field. But we won't see it because Bruce seems to refuse it. I don't get how a guy could play there in the premier league and we are struggling there, yet won't even try it.
 
USA HAS to beat Panama in 4 weeks.

We beat them at home and hopefully by more than one goal they should be fine.

USA has Panama, @Trindad and Tobago.

Panama has @ USA and Costa Rica

Honduras has Mexico and @ Costa Rica.

We all know Costa Rica won't do the US any favors.

So we need to win both and lock it up but a multiple goal win against Panama and a draw in T&T should be enough.

I could see Costa Rica laying down at Panama.

Karma last cycle the US could have knocked out Mexico if they laid down so we will see what Costa Rica does.
 
Alsacs said:
Beat Panama at home.

Draw at T&T

The USA should finish 3rd.

If they win at T&T it would be a lock.
Expand...


Problem is, Panama is the much tougher game. We are more likely to draw with Panama and beat T&T, which leaves us with the same point total, but leaves Panama the ability to beat us out for the spot.
 
IthacaMatt said:
Problem is, Panama is the much tougher game. We are more likely to draw with Panama and beat T&T, which leaves us with the same point total, but leaves Panama the ability to beat us out for the spot.
Expand...
Worst case scenario we play Australia/Syria in the playoff.

I think with our current A team we should beat Panama at home.

We played them to a draw in Panama.

The Gold Cup team was our B/C team and they got a draw.
 
Alsacs said:
Beat Panama at home.

Draw at T&T

The USA should finish 3rd.

If they win at T&T it would be a lock.
Expand...

A draw at TNT would be disastrous. They have no where near the home field advantage or team that other Hex teams do.
 
DeGrozz said:
A draw at TNT would be disastrous. They have no where near the home field advantage or team that other Hex teams do.
Expand...
You are correct but we played at T&T last year in the 4th round and all we got a was 0-0 draw.

Now with the WC on the line I think we will be more aggressive. It's just not a lock.

Beat Panama at home and we are pretty much close to lock. We win by multiple goals against Panama all we will need is a draw at T&T.
 
Alsacs said:
You are correct but we played at T&T last year in the 4th round and all we got a was 0-0 draw.

Now with the WC on the line I think we will be more aggressive. It's just not a lock.

Beat Panama at home and we are pretty much close to lock. We win by multiple goals against Panama all we will need is a draw at T&T.
Expand...

If we beat or draw Panama, CRC automatically qualifies. We would control our own destiny, but Panama would be on the road against a team in CRC that has been ravaged by injuries and has no motivation to play, while Panama would be playing for its WC berth. Add to that Honduras has two remaining games against unmotivated teams that have either qualified or are ~99% to qualify and anything can happen. That's why I think anything but the full three points against the weakest team in the Hex has disaster all over it.

(I should also mention, I am thinking of this in an auto-qualifier situation, because too much craziness happens in the .5 spots and it's something I don't even want to think of!)
 
DeGrozz said:
If we beat or draw Panama, CRC automatically qualifies. We would control our own destiny, but Panama would be on the road against a team in CRC that has been ravaged by injuries and has no motivation to play, while Panama would be playing for its WC berth. Add to that Honduras has two remaining games against unmotivated teams that have either qualified or are ~99% to qualify and anything can happen. That's why I think anything but the full three points against the weakest team in the Hex has disaster all over it.

(I should also mention, I am thinking of this in an auto-qualifier situation, because too much craziness happens in the .5 spots and it's something I don't even want to think of!)
Expand...
Honduras isn't getting 6 points from the final 2 matches.

Mexico wants to be undefeated in qualifying they will be motivated not to lose. I see that match being a draw.

Plus Mexico will remember the USA not laying down against Panama
Last cycle.

I think also Costa Rica will be motivated to win at home and not rely on the USA beating Panama.

Honduras is more of threat for the 4th spot than the 3rd. Wood's goal really hurt their chances.

Now the Costa Rica match in Panama I bet the Costa Rican s will lose and not be motivated.
 
DeGrozz said:
Bradley was definitely not the issue tonight.

Omar's mistake cost us dearly and just like on Friday night, we saw that we currently struggle with teams that park the bus.

What we are really struggling with, just about more than any US team in the last 15 years, is disrupting our opponents in the midfield, maintaining possession off the first ball, and winning the second ball. Last cycle Jermaine Jones helped Bradley tremendously with that. In 2010, Maurice Edu made our team significantly better when he was paired with Bradley in that role. In 2002, it was Mastroeni and JOB stepping up next to prime-Reyna.

Right now, we have no one that can fill that position. The game has passed by Beckerman and Jones and for the first time since injuries and suspensions killed us in 2006 we are left without a great physical presence. I almost want to say just place Cameron (Friday night notwithstanding) there, but who knows. I really am not sure we have a good answer right now.
Expand...

Agree 100%. Bradley is among the least of our issues right now. In fact, anyone who saw Acosta play in the Gold cup and compared that to how he plays when paired with Bradley should realize that Bradley makes Acosta a much better player...

First and foremost, we have an issue with our center backs. What makes a really good center back is an innate sense of positioning and anticipation. The really good ones don't rely on their athleticism to make plays. They rely on their positioning and their ability to read the game. The through pass on the goal was both slow-developing and an easy through ball. Forget the missed tackle, it should never have gotten through to begin with or Gonzalez should have been close enough to not get beaten for pace. Zusi should also have pinched in further (always make them beat you wide) but that is a whole different issue. Guy is newly converted and does not have fullback instincts. The weakness up the middle effectively means that the US has to play with two #6s. When that doesn't happen or if you don't have another workhorse on the wing to provide cover, we are in trouble. You could probably get away with Pulisic or Nagbe on the right if Yedlin is behind him. But with Zusi and Beasley at outside back. No way.

This then brings us to our second issue: personnel and formation. If your outside backs are overmatched, which ours clearly were, you need your outside mids to provide substantial cover (see above - it all ties together). Pulisic and Nagbe are terrific offensive players but their defense is awful. Especially when Yedlin is absent (his presence would have helped immensely), you simply cannot play both Nagbe and Pulisic and two forwards from minute 1.

Arena's substitutions showed that he clearly recognized this as his substitutes allowed him to switch formation (also helped, however, by Honduras decision to substitute defense for offense to protect the lead) but he should have known this before the game started.

If you are going to start Dempsey, you need someone who can hold the ball because Dempsey now makes his living as a finisher and through quick interplay with others rather than 1 v 1. That should have been Wood and not Morris. Not only does Morris not provide hold-up play, his movement is not good enough.

Pulisic needs to understand that Concacaf refs are awful. Honduras and Costa Rica would never have gotten away with what they did to him with Bundesliga refs. Unfortunately, Concacaf is not in Deutschland so he is going to have to learn to adjust his play because the refs are simply not going to protect him.

All in all, extremely lucky to have escaped with a point and there is a lot of work to do.

A soccer team is 11 guys playing their assigned roles which require a variety of skillsets. You cannot simply trot out your best offensive players if it is going to leave gaping holes on the defensive end. Surprised that Bruce did not recognize this as he usually gets tactics, formation and personnel right...
 
Forza Azzurri said:
Agree 100%. Bradley is among the least of our issues right now. In fact, anyone who saw Acosta play in the Gold cup and compared that to how he plays when paired with Bradley should realize that Bradley makes Acosta a much better player...

First and foremost, we have an issue with our center backs. What makes a really good center back is an innate sense of positioning and anticipation. The really good ones don't rely on their athleticism to make plays. They rely on their positioning and their ability to read the game. The through pass on the goal was both slow-developing and an easy through ball. Forget the missed tackle, it should never have gotten through to begin with or Gonzalez should have been close enough to not get beaten for pace. Zusi should also have pinched in further (always make them beat you wide) but that is a whole different issue. Guy is newly converted and does not have fullback instincts. The weakness up the middle effectively means that the US has to play with two #6s. When that doesn't happen or if you don't have another workhorse on the wing to provide cover, we are in trouble. You could probably get away with Pulisic or Nagbe on the right if Yedlin is behind him. But with Zusi and Beasley at outside back. No way.

This then brings us to our second issue: personnel and formation. If your outside backs are overmatched, which ours clearly were, you need your outside mids to provide substantial cover (see above - it all ties together). Pulisic and Nagbe are terrific offensive players but their defense is awful. Especially when Yedlin is absent (his presence would have helped immensely), you simply cannot play both Nagbe and Pulisic and two forwards from minute 1.

Arena's substitutions showed that he clearly recognized this as his substitutes allowed him to switch formation (also helped, however, by Honduras decision to substitute defense for offense to protect the lead) but he should have known this before the game started.

If you are going to start Dempsey, you need someone who can hold the ball because Dempsey now makes his living as a finisher and through quick interplay with others rather than 1 v 1. That should have been Wood and not Morris. Not only does Morris not provide hold-up play, his movement is not good enough.

Pulisic needs to understand that Concacaf refs are awful. Honduras and Costa Rica would never have gotten away with what they did to him with Bundesliga refs. Unfortunately, Concacaf is not in Deutschland so he is going to have to learn to adjust his play because the refs are simply not going to protect him.

All in all, extremely lucky to have escaped with a point and there is a lot of work to do.

A soccer team is 11 guys playing their assigned roles which require a variety of skillsets. You cannot simply trot out your best offensive players if it is going to leave gaping holes on the defensive end. Surprised that Bruce did not recognize this as he usually gets tactics, formation and personnel right...
Expand...

Pulisics defense isn't awful and was often tasked to play a bit more defenseviley last year for Dortmund. Even playing some wingback. For the NT I don't think Bruce wants him tracking way back to play defense that's why you often don't see wing support. He's our biggest offensive threat.
 
Call me a homer, but Sean Johnson needs to be the starting keeper for the USMNT. He is really playing fantastic this year.
 
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