Everything Soccer

ACamp1900

ACamp1900

Counting my ‘bet against ND’ winnings
Messages
49,154
Reaction score
11,486
Surprised how bad our touches have generally been,… Weah not doing himself any favors especially
 
Last edited:
L

luckofirish8

Well-known member
Messages
442
Reaction score
418
The US made 9 lineup changes...they are playing it safe for sure. I can't tell if the backline is being walked through because they are that bad or if the pressure from the forwards/midfielder is down from the first two matches. Whichever it is...Turkey has ripped through very easily for their two goals.
 
Irish2155

Irish2155

Well-known member
Messages
6,665
Reaction score
2,119
Irishdawg said:
I may be in the minority here but this game means nothing… Stay healthy and let’s get to the next round.
Click to expand...

The radio the other day really dumbed it down nicely for me. If this was the NBA, USA would be the Magic. Called them up and comers and talented
 
Old Man Mike

Old Man Mike

Fast as Lightning!
Messages
9,204
Reaction score
6,882
Sometimes we in the US can be so arrogant. To think that we can field a second string team (I get why we're doing it from the Coaching perspective, so that's OK), and run over a pretty good first team from Turkey, is ... well ... arrogant or just ignorant. Turkey's a good soccer team; our second team doesn't look to be. We might be fielding only two guys in this bunch who would start with Turkey tonight.

I will LOVE it if the guys reach down, get pissed, and find a wildman's way to win this game. But ... our current defense is pitiful/bad. (and it's not a bit Matt Turner's fault.) Without Pulisic, Dest, Balogun, Adams, Ream, and the Jedi, we're pretty meh.
 
Irish2155

Irish2155

Well-known member
Messages
6,665
Reaction score
2,119
Old Man Mike said:
Sometimes we in the US can be so arrogant. To think that we can field a second string team (I get why we're doing it from the Coaching perspective, so that's OK), and run over a pretty good first team from Turkey, is ... well ... arrogant or just ignorant. Turkey's a good soccer team; our second team doesn't look to be. We might be fielding only two guys in this bunch who would start with Turkey tonight.

I will LOVE it if the guys reach down, get pissed, and find a wildman's way to win this game. But ... our current defense is pitiful/bad. (and it's not a bit Matt Turner's fault.) Without Pulisic, Dest, Balogun, Adams, Ream, and the Jedi, we're pretty meh.
Click to expand...

This explains a lot. Had no idea this was 2s vs 1s
 
T-Boone

T-Boone

Well-known member
Messages
8,503
Reaction score
4,871
Notre Dame Joe

Notre Dame Joe

Active member
Messages
378
Reaction score
221
Old Man Mike said:
Sometimes we in the US can be so arrogant. To think that we can field a second string team (I get why we're doing it from the Coaching perspective, so that's OK), and run over a pretty good first team from Turkey, is ... well ... arrogant or just ignorant. Turkey's a good soccer team; our second team doesn't look to be. We might be fielding only two guys in this bunch who would start with Turkey tonight.

I will LOVE it if the guys reach down, get pissed, and find a wildman's way to win this game. But ... our current defense is pitiful/bad. (and it's not a bit Matt Turner's fault.) Without Pulisic, Dest, Balogun, Adams, Ream, and the Jedi, we're pretty meh.
Click to expand...
Have we ever lost a spring game?
 
Jiggafini19Deux

Jiggafini19Deux

Minister of Delayed Gratification
Messages
13,960
Reaction score
14,839
Irishdawg said:
I may be in the minority here but this game means nothing… Stay healthy and let’s get to the next round.
Click to expand...
Exactly. A lot of guys got a lot of minutes last night. The game meant nothing in terms of what comes next. They'd clinched the group and were in. They knew going into facing Turkey that they are playing Bosnia next.

It would have been nice to win, but in the game scheme of things, not a huge deal. It gives people a reason to piss and moan now, though. Yay.
 
Irish#1

Irish#1

Livin' Your Dream!
Staff member
Messages
45,330
Reaction score
21,022
I only watched the first half, but you could tell it was the bench players on the field. Slow to get back on defense.
 
jerseyborn1971

jerseyborn1971

Well-known member
Messages
331
Reaction score
568
As Roy Kent would say, "This was a fake game." We put 9 back-ups in to start and still held a draw until the 98th minute. I feel bad for these guys, the whole world including too many of their own countrymen are just waiting on bated breath for them to fail.
 
Old Man Mike

Old Man Mike

Fast as Lightning!
Messages
9,204
Reaction score
6,882
I have an opinion that when this coach decide to sign his contract he saw that he had about half a first team and needed a lot of time to find the other half and some subs. I wouldn't be surprised if later in history he tells us that the player who made taking the job easier to imagine was the emergence of Antonie Robinson as a true quality international player. That gave him Pulisic, McKennie, Adams (if he could get him healthy), A Robinson, and Turner as players who had shown that they could produce. He must have thought "if I can find someone who resembles a '9', and someone to anchor the defense in front of net, we have a chance." He was immediately disappointed that Matt Turner had gotten no playing time in England. But he was immediately surprised at how Tim Ream was so steady, smart, and professional at holding the back end (and the whole team) together. He'd found a captain.

Then I believe that he made his biggest successful call. He discovered that Serginio Dest not only was REALLY good, but was being misused as a right back, and moved him into attack at right wing (replacing Weah, who doesn't really have the ball skills.) Coach found that Dest had grown up and now could be trusted with not having childish hissy-fits on the pitch --- so you could trust him.

His offensive attack was almost settled. Still no "9". Several people were "meh" or just failed. Then, for me anyway, out of nowhere came Balogun. I thought that he was just another tall fast guy. But ... REAL strong. Real fast AND Quick. VERY good at holding up the ball. ... complete revelation to me, and it must have been to Pocchettino too, as the discovery took so long.

That gave us a very dangerous front three and two midfielders and two in the backline that we could run out there against anybody. That leaves only four slots which we man with "OK" players, and players which the Coach and the media brag up all they can even though the actual product doesn't meet the brag (The number of times that Adams, McKennie, and Ream have to clean up deep rightside defensive lapses is way too many.) And Freese is sort of "fine" like Brad Guzan was sort of fine, whereas we really need "Tim Howard/Matt Turner".

That leaves Tillman. Sometimes pretty good; sometimes nearly invisible. We can say the same for Reyna, Pepi, and the others. The coach obviously doesn't trust some of these guys either as key replacements or stabilizers. Why else does he bring Roldan along? ... a very "old head" who will try as hard in every moment to do the right thing. We have too many "unprovens", so Roldan instead of say Luna. (Coach's one glaring mistake on not including him, in my opinion.)

This team (when we're healthy and Turner's in goal with the better players in front of him, and Richards is paying better attention to getting back and in the lanes that Ream is directing) IS pretty good. With just a little luck, we might win a couple more games. A record.
 
ACamp1900

ACamp1900

Counting my ‘bet against ND’ winnings
Messages
49,154
Reaction score
11,486
The way it ended is the only thing that sticks with me, just frustrating regardless,… hopefully they get fuel from this
 
N

notredomer23

Staph Member
Messages
17,852
Reaction score
18,186
Old Man Mike said:
I have an opinion that when this coach decide to sign his contract he saw that he had about half a first team and needed a lot of time to find the other half and some subs. I wouldn't be surprised if later in history he tells us that the player who made taking the job easier to imagine was the emergence of Antonie Robinson as a true quality international player. That gave him Pulisic, McKennie, Adams (if he could get him healthy), A Robinson, and Turner as players who had shown that they could produce. He must have thought "if I can find someone who resembles a '9', and someone to anchor the defense in front of net, we have a chance." He was immediately disappointed that Matt Turner had gotten no playing time in England. But he was immediately surprised at how Tim Ream was so steady, smart, and professional at holding the back end (and the whole team) together. He'd found a captain.

Then I believe that he made his biggest successful call. He discovered that Serginio Dest not only was REALLY good, but was being misused as a right back, and moved him into attack at right wing (replacing Weah, who doesn't really have the ball skills.) Coach found that Dest had grown up and now could be trusted with not having childish hissy-fits on the pitch --- so you could trust him.

His offensive attack was almost settled. Still no "9". Several people were "meh" or just failed. Then, for me anyway, out of nowhere came Balogun. I thought that he was just another tall fast guy. But ... REAL strong. Real fast AND Quick. VERY good at holding up the ball. ... complete revelation to me, and it must have been to Pocchettino too, as the discovery took so long.

That gave us a very dangerous front three and two midfielders and two in the backline that we could run out there against anybody. That leaves only four slots which we man with "OK" players, and players which the Coach and the media brag up all they can even though the actual product doesn't meet the brag (The number of times that Adams, McKennie, and Ream have to clean up deep rightside defensive lapses is way too many.) And Freese is sort of "fine" like Brad Guzan was sort of fine, whereas we really need "Tim Howard/Matt Turner".

That leaves Tillman. Sometimes pretty good; sometimes nearly invisible. We can say the same for Reyna, Pepi, and the others. The coach obviously doesn't trust some of these guys either as key replacements or stabilizers. Why else does he bring Roldan along? ... a very "old head" who will try as hard in every moment to do the right thing. We have too many "unprovens", so Roldan instead of say Luna. (Coach's one glaring mistake on not including him, in my opinion.)

This team (when we're healthy and Turner's in goal with the better players in front of him, and Richards is paying better attention to getting back and in the lanes that Ream is directing) IS pretty good. With just a little luck, we might win a couple more games. A record.
Click to expand...

This is a great post overall so I don’t want to come off overly critical, as I agree with much of what you are saying, but I just don’t get the Turner stuff. Maybe I’m a little biased as an NYCFC fan, but Matt Freese is the GK not just because of his superior shot stopping to Turner (both of which they are average at IMO) but Freese is a much better distributor of the ball than Turner and allows the US to play the style that Poch wants to play.

IMO (and I realize this is the opposite of a bold take) neither options are the level of quality the US GK pool had for a generation- whether it was Tim Howard, Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel, and even to a lesser extent Guzan. Both are a mark below, which is a bit ironic given how the rest of the player pool has taken off.
 
Jiggafini19Deux

Jiggafini19Deux

Minister of Delayed Gratification
Messages
13,960
Reaction score
14,839
They were playing Bosnia in the knockout round regardless of the result of facing Turkey. They lost 3-2 with their second string on a goal in extra time and they were down 2-1.

The way this bracket could potentially lay out for the US is very favorable. They got a lot of players a lot of minutes last night, which could prove useful in the wars to come. There was nothing arrogant or stupid about it. The match had no real consequences in the competition itself. Pochettino got to see a lot of what he has in real time and now probably has a much better idea of who he can rely on in the matches that actually matter. The next one is Wednesday, and let's hope it isn't the last.

You don't risk your core guys to injury or suspension for a result you don't need. Bosnia. Wednesday. Let's go.
 
Old Man Mike

Old Man Mike

Fast as Lightning!
Messages
9,204
Reaction score
6,882
The "arrogance" and/or "stupidity" was neither about the Coach nor the players. They are neither.

The A&S is about the US fair-weather fans and some of the commentators. Pocchettino is doing what he can to manage expectations.
He knows the level of "good" that we are and are not. He knows that the team has a chance to win a couple of more games if it keeps its head-on straight and its energy sky high. In front of the camera he has to occasionally be "politician" as well as coach to keep the fans fired up and the secondary players optimistic.
 
Jiggafini19Deux

Jiggafini19Deux

Minister of Delayed Gratification
Messages
13,960
Reaction score
14,839
Old Man Mike said:
The "arrogance" and/or "stupidity" was neither about the Coach nor the players. They are neither.

The A&S is about the US fair-weather fans and some of the commentators. Pocchettino is doing what he can to manage expectations.
He knows the level of "good" that we are and are not. He knows that the team has a chance to win a couple of more games if it keeps its head-on straight and its energy sky high. In front of the camera he has to occasionally be "politician" as well as coach to keep the fans fired up and the secondary players optimistic.
Click to expand...
This.

I think anyone that actually follows the game and or the team saw that lineup and probably thought to themselves this isn't a gimme. Especially when you saw Turkey's lineup. Turkey had nothing to play for other than pride. The US was going for history because they could have won all three group stage matches. That group of 11 had probably not played together before ever.
 
Old Man Mike

Old Man Mike

Fast as Lightning!
Messages
9,204
Reaction score
6,882
Yeh, Lalas said at halftime that Coach had said ("politically", my word not his) that he had constructed and worked with the team so that we could put out any group of 11 and they could do the job. Alexi correctly brought reality home with: "this group didn't." I honestly think that Coach completely knows that but is NOT going to throw any part of team under the bus nor uselessly lower fan support and optimism about the team we actually have. (Pocchettino also has one rather romantic fantasy that is a good one but he takes it a little too far. He believes that it is the "Magic" of the Whole working together rather than the talent and skill levels of the individuals that creates winning soccer. Well, OK. Sort of. I'm there too generally, but when I picked a pick-up basketball team I sure as hell grabbed the biggest rebounder that I could. No-get-ball, no-get-game. There comes a time when the players have to be actually GOOD.)
 
thekid33

thekid33

President of the Kevin McDougal Fan Club
Messages
2,498
Reaction score
4,212
We are fine.

If we play well and stay healthy we should be able to make a run in the knock out rounds.

Also, Berhalter impressed the hell out of me last night. That is a guy you can take to war.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top