Everything Soccer

[fightingirish26]

Apparently 85-90% Mexican crowd

Why no VAR? They prefer guessing? Don’t think they’ve missed anything tonight but don’t know why they wouldn’t have it

America needs to clean house up front. Sorry Jozy. U hold up play well but they don’t actually score goals. Sargent and Weah. Live with their warts but stop pretending that Jozy and Gyasi can score goals cause they can’t. They just can’t

Really strong start and then the better coach made strong halftime adjustments.

Find a LB please and CDM. Tim Ream and Michael Bradley are good soldiers but soooooo slow

well they apparently missed guardado grabbing mckennies throat (even tho the ref was looking directly at it from point blank)

 

[Irish YJ]

Apparently 85-90% Mexican crowd

Why no VAR? They prefer guessing? Don’t think they’ve missed anything tonight but don’t know why they wouldn’t have it

America needs to clean house up front. Sorry Jozy. U hold up play well but they don’t actually score goals. Sargent and Weah. Live with their warts but stop pretending that Jozy and Gyasi can score goals cause they can’t. They just can’t

Really strong start and then the better coach made strong halftime adjustments.

Find a LB please and CDM. Tim Ream and Michael Bradley are good soldiers but soooooo slow

I don't disagree, but who's going to score? The problem to me tonight was the passing sucked, way too many giveaways, and shitty placement on corners.

At the end of the day, they did better than I thought. I thought they would go out in the quarters or semis.

Are my eyes deceiving me or is that crowd 80%+ Mexico fans?

I went to the 2015 Gold Cup. US played Jamaica, and MX played Panama (right after each other in the semis, same venue). 80+% of the crowd was for MX it seemed. It was pretty embarrassing like tonight. I had prime seats, mid field way low. I was the only US guy down there besides one other couple.

In all fairness, had a ball tailgating with the MX fans pre-game for a short bit. After they realized I wasn't law enforcement and had a few beers they were damn fun.

 

[NDMIA]

US needs to give tourney time when it is 3.5 years from World Cup to Antonee Robinson, Josh Sargent, Timothy Weah, and too bad Tyler Boyd and Deandre Yedlin couldn’t be there. Young European dudes need games and experience and it is better to try with 3.5 years than in one friendly before a WCQ. Reggie Cannon looked very good and athletic tonight. McKennie made some errors but wasn’t intimidated by anyone or anything during that game. US won’t move the needle or take the next step with average MLS players who are “veterans” of frankly a failed World Cup cycle. Gotta give flavor to young euros or some up and coming MLS stars.

 

[fightingirish26]

US needs to give tourney time when it is 3.5 years from World Cup to Antonee Robinson, Josh Sargent, Timothy Weah, and too bad Tyler Boyd and Deandre Yedlin couldn’t be there. Young European dudes need games and experience and it is better to try with 3.5 years than in one friendly before a WCQ. Reggie Cannon looked very good and athletic tonight. McKennie made some errors but wasn’t intimidated by anyone or anything during that game. US won’t move the needle or take the next step with average MLS players who are “veterans” of frankly a failed World Cup cycle. Gotta give flavor to young euros or some up and coming MLS stars.

Tyler Adams*

Tyler Boyd was sitting on the bench while we brought on Roldan, Zardes and Lovitz. (those are some depressing names eh?)

 

[NDMIA]

Yea sorry. Meant Tyler Adams. Boyd should’ve started for Morris.

 

[IrishLion]

Mexico: Better at soccer, and also better at being total bitchasses

 

[Rogue219]

I didn't watch the Gold Cup Final. Didn't want to ruin the buzz from earlier in the day. Wise choice.

Pulisic's club development is now in the hands of Frank Lampard. I'm not into praying, so I'll crap in one hand and hope in the other. Then see what hand is full when Lampard is done.

 

[Irish Joe]

A game of 2 halves. First half looked like a new team, second looked like same old U.S. against Mexico. Still plenty of chances though and they just got flat beat.

 

[notredomer23]

Pulisic and Altidore needed to bury their early chances. Hate to lose to Mexico but I am optimisitc going forward when we are full strength. We played so well in the first half and gotta think if it was Boyd over Morris or pretty much anyone over Morris we would have had a few more chances. Morris just isn't international level. 5 or 6 crosses just to absolutely no where.

Can't wait to see this squad with Tyler Adams.

 

[Irish Joe]

Pulisic and Altidore needed to bury their early chances. Hate to lose to Mexico but I am optimisitc going forward when we are full strength. We played so well in the first half and gotta think if it was Boyd over Morris or pretty much anyone over Morris we would have had a few more chances. Morris just isn't international level. 5 or 6 crosses just to absolutely no where.

Can't wait to see this squad with Tyler Adams.

Morris was invisible. Every so often when he'd get a touch I had forgotten he was even out there.

 

[Prof K]

Pulisic and Altidore needed to bury their early chances. Hate to lose to Mexico but I am optimisitc going forward when we are full strength. We played so well in the first half and gotta think if it was Boyd over Morris or pretty much anyone over Morris we would have had a few more chances. Morris just isn't international level. 5 or 6 crosses just to absolutely no where.

Can't wait to see this squad with Tyler Adams.

From what I have seen Timothy Weah will also add a fair bit, and will likely replace one of the senior strikers. What I don't see is someone who can replace Bradley, who still has skills, but is losing some speed at 31. Hopefully, he can stay long enough for the young players to come into their own.

Just out of curiosity, of the younger generation, who do you believe has the greatest potential?

I would rate them:
1. Pulisic
2. McKennie
3. Weah
4. Adams

I am no great judge of talent, but have invested a fair bit in collections of cards based on that ranking so I would love to hear what others, better informed than I, think about future potential.

 

[GowerND11]

The lack of yellow cards in that incident with "falling" on Altidore and McKennie being choked told the story with the ref all game. Have to finish the early chances. Thought the defense played well to only give up one goal with how much Mexico had the ball in the 2nd.

Bright future for sure, but I think that gap of quality in the ages between our last WC team and this up and coming group is apparent, as there isn't even any good transition pieces and we have to keep trotting out players like Bradley out there.

 

[Irish Joe]

I like McKennie a ton but I do worry his temper is going to cost us a game at some point

 

[ACamp1900]

I'm done with "Bright future"... USMNT has been Notre Dame football for my entire life as a fan in that regard, win big games for fucking once or stfu about how good things are gonna be 'next year'... that's pretty much my thoughts. This program missed the world cup and lost the GC championship match to our biggest rival and a nation that really shouldn't be able to hang for the fifth time out of six. I'm so over hearing about how great things will be next week. I know, I'm bitter.

 

[Rogue219]

I don't anticipate them going anywhere. I would not be the least bit surprised that they miss out on going to Qatar again. I want to be optimistic, but it's hard.

They put this roster together to win the Gold Cup and they didn't win it. Kind of a "now what?" feeling. Start playing the kids.

 

[fightingirish26]

y'all, i am way more optimistic than the rest of the board it seems. we had a lot of injuries in the pool for this gold cup and some weird selection choices that i'm choosing to believe will work themselves out over time, i.e. josh sargent.

gk? steffen is about to play in the bundesliga, should improve and i don't think he's a major weakness to begin with.

left back? don't see any great talents in the pipeline, but between gloster/robinson it's gotta be better than tim ream. major weakness here.

center back? i actually really like long, miazga and brooks. ccv could be pretty good too but we don't have to rely on his development.

right back? cannon showed reasons for optimism, plus yedlin is still a PL right back. if we can keep dest away from holland he might be ready come 2022.

center mid? mckennie, adams, and pulisic. holmes off the bench. the sooner i never have to hear bradley's name again the better. how do those first three names inspire anything other than confidence?

forwards? sargent and weah in the pipeline. tyler boyd showed flashes. america doesn't seem to produce great wingers so maybe a 5-3-2 is the best option moving forward.

obviously not gonna win any world cups but when has there ever been so much young talent?

 

[fightingirish26]

--------weah-----sargent-------------
--------------pulisic--------------------
-------mckennie---adams------------
robinson------------------------yedlin
-------brooks--long--miazga---------
--------------steffen---------------------

 

[Irish Joe]

y'all, i am way more optimistic than the rest of the board it seems. we had a lot of injuries in the pool for this gold cup and some weird selection choices that i'm choosing to believe will work themselves out over time, i.e. josh sargent.

To me, this is a big issue. MLS coaches are going to make MLS decisions and if that's the level of manager we're stuck with I believe our potential is limited.

Weird selection choices obviously aren't limited to MLS managers, Klinsmann had plenty, but I do think MLS managers are harmful.

 

[BabyIrish]

I don't anticipate them going anywhere. I would not be the least bit surprised that they miss out on going to Qatar again. I want to be optimistic, but it's hard.

They put this roster together to win the Gold Cup and they didn't win it. Kind of a "now what?" feeling. Start playing the kids.

This is a pretty absurd statement. The US not going to the WC was a fluke. It happened, but it's not going to happen for a long time, especially if the WC is expanded. Even though we lost to Mexico 1-0, we still could have won the game and we looked head and shoulders above the rest except maybe Costa Rica. Time will tell but I'd be surprised if we don't finish in the top 2 of Qualifying for Qatar.

 

[ACamp1900]

I don't think Qatar will be an expanded field just yet... so that can't save us this time around. After that we host and it expands so it should be easy to get in every single time. It'll also be interesting how it impacts the HEX/qualifying games in terms of interest and such.

 

[fightingirish26]

To me, this is a big issue. MLS coaches are going to make MLS decisions and if that's the level of manager we're stuck with I believe our potential is limited.

Weird selection choices obviously aren't limited to MLS managers, Klinsmann had plenty, but I do think MLS managers are harmful.

i think some of the selection issues had to do with unavailable players (yedlin, adams, holmes and brooks prob would have gotten plenty of minutes if available)

the other questionable ones (weah+sargent) will work themselves out over time. as in, even mls managers aren't gonna be able to ignore them, unless they totally bust or something.

 

[NDMIA]

i think some of the selection issues had to do with unavailable players (yedlin, adams, holmes and brooks prob would have gotten plenty of minutes if available)

the other questionable ones (weah+sargent) will work themselves out over time. as in, even mls managers aren't gonna be able to ignore them, unless they totally bust or something.

I don't mind an MLS manager to be honest. Berhalter is going to select the obvious European guys no matter what is going on with the MLS. Even if it is a really crazy good cycle in europe. You may not have more than 10 guys from Europe on the squad. The rest of the players are playing in the MLS as that is usually where the next best talent comes from so it is better to get a guy who can make strong decisions on 12-23 than a guy who's from Europe and maybe adds 1 guys who we didn't think was gonna make the team. Most of the european guys are going to make the squad if they're starting level players in most of the top leagues in europe. When Weah & Sargent become full time players they'll be in the squad and Berhalter won't have much choice with that. You just have to hope that Berhalter is spending enough time in Europe watching his top guys because they will decide his world cup fortunes. I'd guess his top 7-8 guys in his starting lineup will come from Europe by the time 2022 rolls around.

 

[Rogue219]

... and we looked head and shoulders above the rest except maybe Costa Rica.

They looked head and shoulders above Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.

 

[notredomer23]

You guys are way too negative about this team. We say bright future because for the first time we are actually seeing young players producing at the club level, whether it's here (Busio, Sands, Pomykal, Durkin, McKenzie to name a few under 20) or abroad (Weah, Sargent, Mendez, Soto, Llanez, Richards) not to even include the guys just over 20 in Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, & Steffen. We looked like equals of a team that has been better than us lately, and we didn't really struggle much in the Gold Cup besides then.

This isn't like 2011 when Agudelo scores a lucky goal against South Africa and we think he's gonna be the next Landon Donovan (think he would be much better if he didn't leave for Stoke, but that's neither here nor there...). We have an abundance of talent that the US pool has never seen before in the u23s and under levels. We have to get used to many of these guys not panning out because that's how it is with the vast majority of the elite countries. Look at the Brazils, Belgiums, Germanys of the world. If they have 5 players from the U20 ever make the senior squad consistently that's considered a golden generatiom.

I have my concerns about Berhalter, mainly from a player selection POV, but we did seem to play better as the tournament went on.

We didn't qualify in 2018. Get over it. Neither did Italy or the Netherlands. We've made 5 of the last 7 knockout rounds of the World Cup. This battered fan syndome when we're still over a year from qualifying is out of hand.

 

[ACamp1900]

You guys are way too negative about this team. We say bright future because for the first time we are actually seeing young players producing at the club level, whether it's here (Busio, Sands, Pomykal, Durkin, McKenzie to name a few under 20) or abroad (Weah, Sargent, Mendez, Soto, Llanez, Richards) not to even include the guys just over 20 in Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, & Steffen. We looked like equals of a team that has been better than us lately, and we didn't really struggle much in the Gold Cup besides then.

This isn't like 2011 when Agudelo scores a lucky goal against South Africa and we think he's gonna be the next Landon Donovan (think he would be much better if he didn't leave for Stoke, but that's neither here nor there...). We have an abundance of talent that the US pool has never seen before in the u23s and under levels. We have to get used to many of these guys not panning out because that's how it is with the vast majority of the elite countries. Look at the Brazils, Belgiums, Germanys of the world. If they have 5 players from the U20 ever make the senior squad consistently that's considered a golden generatiom.

I have my concerns about Berhalter, mainly from a player selection POV, but we did seem to play better as the tournament went on.

We didn't qualify in 2018. Get over it. Neither did Italy or the Netherlands. We've made 5 of the last 7 knockout rounds of the World Cup. This battered fan syndome when we're still over a year from qualifying is out of hand.

Well look who just watched a tape of the 2003 Gold Cup final instead of the actual match yesterday.

 

[Irish Joe]

As much as I love the game and know what I know about teams/players, I never played and the X's & O's are mostly lost on me. With that being said, can someone tell me why we looked so terrible in the pre-Gold Cup friendlies and looked competent in the first half against Mexico?

What changed?

 

[Old Man Mike]

I felt that the Gold Cup went as good as I could have reasonably hoped. We WERE the second best team, but who REALLY thought that we were ready for Mexico just yet? As it turned out, we could have won that game too. (Admittedly, not having Herrera is a BIG loss for them.)

Our games showed finally that Pulisic is as good as they say he is. The Mexican coach had to game specifically against him --- and Wonderboy broke away several times anyway. Our games showed that we are deep at centerback and have a keeper with potential --- a legit hope given his youth. Our games showed the emergence of Cannon, who was for me the big discovery of this cup. We are now, in my opinion, filled with good RB players (Yedlin, Cannon, Lima, and Adams if the staff insists on misplaying him there.) LB? I disagree about negativity towards Tim Ream. He's not going to be a star, but we didn't lose because of Tim Ream --- it is a sadness that Mexico's goal comes due to very clever counterattacking which was covered well by both CBs, Ream, and Bradley, but blown when McKennie decided not to run back with his man and that guy ended up with the last clever pass and a clear shot. .... odd moment for McKennie, but he has some. ... and as always, everyone bitches about Bradley without, in my opinion, being able to point to a single instance where he makes a bad blunder which leads to a goal. Agreed, he is too old to count into the future team, but just now we have no one else until he teaches someone.

I like the look of a future with the young keeper, four stud CBs, several good wingbacks, and McKennie, Pulisic, "down the spine". This means that we need the forward attackers (will they be Sargent and Weah and one other? Boyd? Pomykal? Where will Adams show up?) Our back wall seems pretty solid, yes, with Bradley still there until Master finds Pupil. McKennie as Mean-Mid (8) and Pulisic as creative Mid (10) seem to be ready to cause other teams trouble. My real ongoing gripe with the Gold Cup team was that we had to labor with no one in Mexico's class in any of the Forward Spearpoint positions (except for those early brief flashes from Boyd.) Arriola tried REALLY hard. He's just one step below high-grade country-level team qualities. He is a place-holder until someone with threatening skill can be found.

But since the back-end is solid, and the attacking mids can threaten, then, IF Sargent, Weah, or whomever can insert juice into the attack, we're not that far away from being able to compete truly with someone who knows how to play.

 

[notredomer23]

Well look who just watched a tape of the 2003 Gold Cup final instead of the actual match yesterday.

Where in the first half of the game did we not look like equal or better than Mexico?

 

[ACamp1900]

Where in the first half of the game did we not look like equal or better than Mexico?

You're right, that makes me feel so much better. You can pump sunshine all you want, we still lost to mexcio and there is NEVER a silver lining there if you care about this team... ever. The WC failure made this all the more important, mexcio didn't play well all tourney and should have been out twice imo, we played above the expectations of many heading into the final and... still lost. I'm not happy, not even pissed, I'm mostly just defeated... I have to be one of the oldest USMNT fans around, I've been watching religiously and such since the early 90s, my passion is just shot. I don't know what to tell you.

 

[fightingirish26]

I felt that the Gold Cup went as good as I could have reasonably hoped. We WERE the second best team, but who REALLY thought that we were ready for Mexico just yet? As it turned out, we could have won that game too. (Admittedly, not having Herrera is a BIG loss for them.)

...

and as always, everyone bitches about Bradley without, in my opinion, being able to point to a single instance where he makes a bad blunder which leads to a goal. Agreed, he is too old to count into the future team, but just now we have no one else until he teaches someone.

Mexico also didn't have Corona, Vela, Chicharito, and biggest of all, Lozano.

Dude sorry but Bradley suuuuucks. He'll play two good diagonal passes a game and then lose the ball over and over and over and over again. Doesn't have the athleticism or positional awareness to win the ball back either. Cannot fucking stand him.